Like any art, movies have a magical capacity to impact people on many different levels. You may see a film and not think much of it beyond it being entertaining, but that same work could also very well be the emotional foundation for another individual. I always love reading/hearing about examples of this phenomenon, as it perfectly demonstrates the immense power of cinema, and Russell Crowe recently shared a really beautiful one while giving an speech in Malta and discussing the impressive legacy of Ridley Scott's Gladiator.
Making a special appearance at the Mediterrane Film Festival this weekend (via Pat Sapertein on X), Crowe shared a story about an experience that he once had with a passionate Gladiator fan. The character Maximus Decimus Meridius will forever be an important part of the actor's legacy (let's not forget that the performance won him the Academy Award for Best Actor), but he was nonetheless taken aback when a muscle-bound stranger began crying upon meeting him on a random evening. Said Crowe,
I was leaving a restaurant at nighttime. As I came out in the street, this young man, he saw me, he recognized me and asked me for a photo. So I shook his hand, and he started to cry. And his friends told me later that he’s the head lifeguard of the local beach, and he’s got muscles on muscles, and lots of responsibility and authority, and they’d never seen him like that. And he was crying, so I gave him the old strength-and-honor handshake as well on the forearms. But his crying got more intense, and he couldn’t wipe the tears from his eyes. So I ended up hugging him.
You may be thinking now, "Oh, he must have been immensely star-struck. What a cute moment!" But this encounter goes a touch deeper than that.
When the man finally pulled himself together and couple properly verbalize a sentence, he explained why it meant so much to him that he would get to meet Russell Crowe. He wasn't simply a guy who has seen Gladiator a hundred times and loves it for its action and drama; when he was a kid, he was told to keep the heroic Maximus in mind as he reached maturity and figured out what kind of man he should be. Crowe continued:
When he got himself together, he said, ‘You don’t understand. When I was eight years old, my mother sat me in front of a TV, put on a videocassette of Gladiator, and she told me, ‘If you are ever wondering what type of man your mother expects you to be, it’s this type of man.’ The honor, the integrity, the faith, this type of man, a man made in Malta.
How could you not love that story?! Gladiator may physically amount to a bunch of images flickering on a screen, but the tale it tells and the hero it presents can literally be described as life-changing.
If you're like me and now feeling in the mood to check out one of the greatest modern sword-and-sandal epics, Gladiator and all of its beauty and emotional power is available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription.
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