Review of Attila

Attila (2001)
7/10
Entertaining
6 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
For someone who is a history buff, especially of the period this movie, Attila, is trying to portray (roughly 430 AD to 455 AD), I was happy to finally see a Roman Empire movie specifically about this period. Most Roman Empire movies before were either of the Julius Caesar or Marcus Aurelius periods (i.e. Gladiator). That said, there are a lot of historical inaccuracies (due to budgetary constraints for example, they used August era Roman costumes), but I was willing to overlook that because of the filmmakers' attempt to try to represent the widening cultural differences between the divided Western and Eastern (Byzantine) Roman Empires (the empire divided in 395 AD) - a good example is showing the Western Emperor Valentinian III as portrayed as a Roman in Augustus era Imperial regalia whereas the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II is accurately portrayed in more Oriental Persian influenced garb. Ironically, the actor that steals the show is not the title character Atilla but Powers Boothe, Flavius Aetius, also known by his nickname, the last Roman. Again, while there are many inaccuracies, this movie is entertaining for showing a period of Roman history (during its decline) that rarely is explored. A 7 out of 10.
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