Review of The Collection: I Caesar

Introduction

I Caesar was a six part series on ancient Rome which originally aired on BBC in 1997. It details the rise and fall of the Roman Empire by focusing on six of its key leaders, dedicating an hour slot to each.

With the advent of CGI creating a renaissance of historic programming (where crowds of thousands can be created digitally) `Rome` has been not only in the air of late, but quite frequently on the air too, not least in the epic series `Rome`. This documentary series is (I`m pleased to say) nothing like that.

It`s actually rather a gentle journey through tumultuous times and lives using simple but effective documentary techniques, such as rostrum camera moves over illustrations, gentle tilts up and down ancient statues and monuments, interview segments with academic experts, and half-mixed landscapes with minimally staged battle action. And it`s all nicely written, beautifully narrated, and elegantly edited, never letting the programme-making get in the way of the compelling stories as they unfold. In short, classy traditional documentary making.

The series starts with Julius Caesar, and then follows the rise and fall of Roman dominance over more than half-a-century through the lives of five other leaders who followed in Caesar`s considerable footsteps; Augustus, Nero, Hadrian, Constantine and Justinian.

I found the series (or maybe just the sheer bloody history) absolutely captivating. What unfolds across the (near) six hours makes even the most convoluted of drama plots seem entirely feasible. From infanticide and patricide, to out and out genocide, the history of Rome is littered with outrageous and inhuman acts. Yet somehow, through the endless brutality some sort of cohesive society seems to emerge.



What fascinates most, perhaps, is that complete power is seen to corrupt absolutely again and again as one emperor after another falls foul of their own power-mania and egotism. It`s a starling fact that out of 33 emperors, only half a dozen died natural deaths.

The geography is breathtaking too. Two thousand years before EasyJet made travel simple, the Roman Empire pushed its boundaries from the north of England to southern Egypt and from the west coast of Spain to Syria in the east. The tales are peppered with exotic shenanigans; not least Cleopatra`s role - documented nicely here.

Apparently the makers of the series travelled to more than twenty countries to locate resources and footage for the series, though that`s not necessarily evident. There are certainly some nice shots from Egypt, Rome and Britain though this is no spectacular travelogue.

Here`s a quick overview of the Emperors featured.

JULIUS CAESAR
Perhaps the most famous of all Emperors, Caesar was fuelled by naked ambition and pretty much set the course of history for the next 600 years. Having conquered Gaul, his seething ambition eventually brought about his own downfall at the sword of Brutus. Dramatic stuff and quite a story to pack into less than an hour!

AUGUSTUS
Augustus was born Gaius Octavius but he took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) in 44BC after the assassination of his great-uncle Julius. He also took on rival faction Antony and Cleopatra and won, as well as restoring peace after 100 years of civil war. Of the six featured here, despite some questions about his own morality, Augustus seemed the most straight-forward and honest and was hailed as a near God in the centuries that followed.

NERO
Oh Dear! Poor old Nero would really rather have been a thesbian than a leader and proved to be a demanding, cruel minded person who cared little for anything but his own satisfaction. A real nasty piece of work and a fascinating story too.

HADRIAN
Well, we all know about Hadrian in the UK thanks to his wall that was set to keep the Barbarians at bay, and still stands in part today. He also designed the Pantheon in Rome. Clever boy…but not a particularly likable one either.


CONSTANTINE
A really brutal Caesar who murdered his own wife and son, among countless others, yet he was the one Caesar who embraced Christianity. It was under his rule that Christianity became the principle religion of the Empire. Constantine`s decision to embrace Christianity was instrumental in making it the dominant religion in the Western world. Hmmm…nice start and certainly food for thought.

JUSTINIAN
Justinian was born a Serbian peasant and is considered to be the last Roman Emperor. He is most famous for the Justinian Code, a compilation and standardisation of the Roman legal tradition that influences Western legal traditions to this day. But by the time he passed away, the empire was fading.

Video

A very acceptable transfer of a programme broadcast ten years ago in 4:3. Shot on film, the programme has a `quality feel` to it, despite the visualisation appearing a little strained at times (repeated shots of tilts up statues for example).

Audio

Worthy of note is the superb score and narration. This absolutely exudes quality and is a pleasure to listen to. Offered up in original stereo.

Features

None except a couple of intriguing trailers for other Seventh Arts productions.

Conclusion

Given the glut of hugely expensive, hugely expansive epics of late (`Rome` for example), I found this series of no-nonsense documentaries extremely refreshing.

As an introduction to the topic this series of six programmes is superb. They`re calmly paced, nicely constructed pieces that betray some really considered research and writing. Though sometimes the programmes struggle for visual support (with nearly six hours airtime to fill), I really didn`t object to the repeated shots tilting slowly up statues for example. It was actually quite a reflective experience, and not at all at odds with the slightly academic retelling of the subject matter.

Experts in the field may protest at the brevity of the pieces, cramming whole lifetimes into a 50 minute slot, though for simple folk like me, they offer a perfect way of getting a broad understanding of this unique slice of history. Recommended.