Two Thumbs Up for German series "Barbarian"

Finished watching the new German Netflix original series "Barbarian" last night and I give it a big two thumbs up! Excellent acting, stayed pretty close to historical events, and I was awestruck by scenes of how large a Roman encampment of three legions was (especially in comparison to the small local villages which I think was the point) and how fearsome the legions marching in formation must have appeared to the local tribesmen who referred to them as columns of steel.

I'm currently listening to book 4 of S.J.A. Turney's Marius' Mules series of novels about Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and at this point in the war (55 BCE) Caesar had eight legions with him not just the three Varus commanded, which still looked quite formidable in the German film. Caesar's encampment must have truly appeared as a metropolitan city in the middle of a near wilderness.

I also enjoyed watching the legions on the march realistically packing all of their kit on their backs with their centurions striding along in the front line and the tribunes and legates riding along beside each legion. It really made the images of Legate Fronto and his tenth legion described in Turney's novels come alive for me!

I'm also grateful supernatural elements, did not dominate the film as they did in "Britannia."  

Just one historical note - Arminius was a hostage raised in Rome, but not by Publius Quinctilius Varus as depicted in the film.  I can understand how this fictional relationship served a dramatic purpose, though, to emphasize Arminius' conflicted nature about betraying the people who had raised him from a child. He was drafted into the Roman military at an early age, during which he was granted Roman citizenship and became a Roman knight as accurately depicted in the film. After serving with distinction in the Great Illyrian Revolt, he was sent to Germania to aid the local governor, Varus, in completing the Roman conquest of the Germanic tribes.  In the aftermath of the battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Arminius fought retaliatory invasions by the Roman general Germanicus in the battles of Pontes Longi, Idistaviso, and the Angrivarian Wall, and deposed a rival, the Marcomanni king Maroboduus before eventually being assassinated by his own people in 21 BCE.  I assume these battles will be the focus of future seasons of the series.

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Spartacus: Blood and Sand Now Available For Netflix Instant Download

Periodically, I check to see if there are any new movies and television series added to the free (for members) Netflix instant streaming service that I might be interested in and today I could hardly believe my eyes - Spartacus: Blood and Sand showed up in the list before the series has even finished airing on STARZ!  Go STARZ!!

[Image: Andy Whitfield as Spartacus in Spartacus Blood and Sand.  Courtesy of STARZ Entertainment.]

Although I don't agree with the opening disclaimer of the series that it is an accurate depiction of the Roman culture for the time period, I have found the characters increasingly more interesting and the series has drawn me in more and more each week.  I wrote a full review (through episode 10) for Heritage Key.

I know it contains extremely violent graphics and sexual situations but as a technologist I tend to overlook the special effects as just so much CGI and focus on the story.  Star Andy Whitfield as Spartacus does a good job in a very physically demanding role and John Hannah really surprised me as the central villain.  I had only seen him in comedic roles in The Mummy movies with the exception of his performance as a treacherous Roman senator in The Last Legion.  But his performance in that film was almost edited out of existence and what remained barely qualified as a cameo so I didn't really see just how forceful and duplicitous he could be!

Lucy Lawless goes after her role as Batiatus' wife with unreserved gusto as well and I've been introduced to some good performances by several actors I had not seen before too - Manu Bennett as Crixus gets more intense every week and Viva Bianca as Lucretia's friend (and Spartacus' enemy) is absolutely vile!

I read that STARZ had planned to begin shooting season 2 before season 1 even finished up but Andy Whitfield is undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma in New Zealand so the network is waiting for him to recover first.  I do hope they don't change their mind and bail out like HBO did after we have started to care what happens to the characters.  I'm really sick and tired of so-called reality programming and would prefer a little fantasy for a change - even if it is a bit over the top!!

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