Seneca

No pun intended - and a movie that is walking on a thin fine line. Nero is someone that most if not all have heard of. But Seneca ... I doubt it is only me, I am quite sure that not many know of him or a lot about him. On the other hand, his name seems connected with Nero, so maybe more have at least some peripheral knowledge.

But this is not out to tell the story of him in a traditional way. No we get characters from back then - but with a newer, fresh take on them. And while the language is or sounds sometimes like it is from the olden days (back then), it also goes back and forth and gives us a lot of newer sentiment. And swear words .. something not everyone may agree with or find good to hear.

John Malkovich really relishes in his role - and seeing Julian Sands in this reminded me, that he went missing a few months ago. I was hoping he was found (alive), but as of today no sign of him yet. Which makes it unlikely that he is still alive. Something that his character and the other ones surely aren't - this plays almost 2 centuries ago - so there is that.

Apart from the swear words though, some might also have issues with some graphic depiction of violence and gore/blood. While that doesn't happen a lot or often - the spikes we get can be hard to stomach. One individual wasn't prepared for that and left the cinema. I imagine that happend in other screenings too.

Again not an easy watch for many reasons, but if you like theatre and performances in general ... you will have a hoot .. well you know what I mean. Just be prepared that the movie seems to go on forever ... or "torturing" the viewer by having "multiple" endings ... which is fitting to the character of the ever so clever title character/person ...

My library provides Kanopy as a streaming service. Tonight we decided to try "Seneca."

The plot, the setting, the characters remind me of stage plays that take themselves too seriously and after a while make the audience go to the restroom for some fresh air. I'm halfway through it and can't decide if I want to keep going. I think I've already got the message and it is not reassuring. We are all in trouble and good people cannot stop it hurtling at us.

I can't stop thinking of my own era as I watch this film. Things in the U. S. are even worse than when the film was made. There is a ton of connections to the era I find myself in.

Just in the last few days Trump's E. P. A. Has turned its back on important climate legislation here and in the world, the President is on a tear because he wants us to look elsewhere (Epstein, Obama, 2016 election, "nasty people," more) instead of at his behaviors and desires. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has shut down because of funding cuts, we're getting pseudoscience regarding the nature of carbon in the atmosophere, for lack of funds my state has closed down major programs and our access to records in our historic Minnesota Historical Society that was founded before statehood, the air in my state has been unsafe for many days this summer because of planetary wildfires, the ocean warming is causing conditions for hurricanes, the Supreme Court has condoned rogue opinions promulgated by haters against our citizens and the years of cumulative advance toward a better life for the many, the nighttime temperatures for the planet have inched forward to prevent essential cooling that thwarts overly high daytime temps, the Administration's eccentric announcements about tariffs and tribute to be paid by nations who negotiate "deals" with Trump have caused whipsaw movements in the stock market and made impossible the creation of an orderly business climate. Knowledge is now considered boring and the Constitution is only a set of guidelines, not a sacred document, a contract between Americans for the betterment of all. The founding fathers never planned on Nero wanting the Presidency.

Messengers appear out of nowhere to tell us that we have no power. The costumes of the film players look like Zippy the Clown of the comic strips, but the maddening passivity of Zippy is also present. No one one speaks clearly on behalf of any forces that oppose the Trump juggernaut. Our citizens have shown their disdain for tradition, truth, longterm goals, and kindness to the rest of the world and our own grandchildren's generation. Yes, Seneca is threatened by Nero with death. Will he die? We see the juggernaut approaching. No one can help him. Cynicism and selfishness override altruism and good faith. If Seneca, Nero's mentor, gets killed by Nero, well, hey. So it goes.

Please pass me the bowl of chips and a beer.

Senator Seneca (John Malkovich) is a close advisor and supporter of Emperor Nero (Tom Xander). He has been Nero's teacher since childhood. He talks non-stop and constantly advises Nero to be an ethical ruler. As Nero becomes tyrannical, he is forced to bend his views into excusing Nero's excesses. After an attempt on Nero's life, an innocent Seneca is still accused. Nero gives him the gift of taking his own life.

This is a historical dramatization of the Stoic Seneca. It's a smallish production with a nice cast led by Malkovich. It reminds me of a play in the park except it's in beautiful Morocco locations. I find myself drawing parallel lines between this movie and the present day. Some connections are more clearer than others. It's funny that he asks why bad things happen to good people. That's probably my high point. All his excuses ring very real for today. I'm less interested in his decline and his declaration of the Roman decline. He is centuries too early for Rome and anyone comparing this with America is probably almost as early.

Seneca was a stoic philosopher and moralist known today for his letters, dialogs and plays, all of which are readily available and eminently readable. He survived the brutal reign of Caligula, was exiled under Claudius, and was a tutor and advisor to Nero. Like many close to this emperor (or Mr. President in the film), Seneca did not survive the experience, and committed suicide in 65 AD on orders of Nero.

Malkovich delivers a fine performance while quoting various Senecan type things. It's very close to a monologue. Being an art film, it has some very weird twists, most of which fall very flat indeed - from Nero's sunglasses to the bizarre paper-mache microphone and the bizarre staging of the play-within-a-play, Seneca's own Thyestes. That aside, it's an interesting meditation on death, and worth watching if you're a fan of the classics.

The modernization and attempted comparison to modern falls flat, and spoils what might have been a fascinating stoic 'letter' to the present.

Seneca the Younger was a fascinating character and this movie is an interesting exploration of that character. I think that historians will be displeased with the liberties that this story takes with truth and historical accuracy, and I suspect that much of the general audience will be lost because of the lack of historical context that this movie provides. I am a fan of Seneca and I enjoyed this, but it definitely isn't a tentpole film.

There is an audience for this film though, and I wish that it had been better promoted in the U. S. and that it had seen a wider release, because John Malkovich, Lilith Stangenberg, Tom Xander, Geraldine Chaplin, and Andrew Koji and several others have delivered excellent performances here. Frankly, John deserves an Oscar for his performance, and, while John, Lilith, Geraldine, and Andrew are all seasoned actors, Tom Xander in particular deserves special credit for taking on and nailing such a complex role.

The cinematography is beautiful, the directing is great, the writing is tight, and the acting is on-point, but the subject is somewhat obscure, and so it is probably never going to be a top-ten film. Perhaps some day Seneca will get the Oppenheimer treatment, but until then, this may be the apogee of Roman history in 21st Century cinema.