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DESCRIPTION
HBO Dramatic Series Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic Rome is the wealthiest city in the world a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people; epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now those foundations are crumbling eaten away by corruption and excess. After eight years of war two soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo unwittingly become entwined in the historical events of ancient Rome. A serialized drama of love and betrayal masters and slaves husbands and wives ROME chronicles a turbulent era that saw the death of the republic and the birth of an empire.Running Time: 720 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359284823 Manufacturer No: 92848
Family dysfunction. Treachery. Betrayal. Coarse profanity. Brutal violence. Graphic and sometimes brutal sex. No, it's not The Sopranos, it's Rome, HBO's madly ambitious series that bloodily splatters the glory of Rome just as savagely as Monty Python and the Holy Grail soiled the good name of Camelot but with far fewer laughs; very few funny things happen on the way to this forum. Set in 52 B.C. Before Cable, Rome charts the dramatic shifts in the balance of power between former friends Pompey Magnus Kenneth Cranham, leader of the Senate, and Julius Caesar Ciaran Hinds, whose imminent return after eight years to Rome after conquering the Gauls, has the ruling class up in arms. At the heart of Rome is the odd couple friendship between two soldiers who fortuitously become heroes of the people. Lucius Vorenus Kevin McKidd is married, honorable, and steadfast. Titus Pullo Ray Stevenson is an amoral rogue whose philosophy is best summed up, "I kill my enemies, take their gold, and enjoy their women." Among Rome's most compelling subplots is Lucius's strained relationship with his wife, Niobe Indira Varma, who is surprised to see her husband alive but not as surprised as he is to find her upon his homecoming with a newborn baby in her arms! Any viewer befuddlement over Rome's intrigues and machinations, and determining who is hero and who is foe, disappears the minute Golden Globe-nominee Polly Walker appears as Atia, Caesar's formidable niece and a villainess for the ages. In the first hour alone, she offers her already married daughter as a bride to the recently widowed Pompey. One eagerly awaits to see what or who she'll do next as much as we anticipate her comeuppance in the final episode.
Rome is a painstakingly mounted production that earned eight well-deserved Emmy nominations in such categories as costumes, set design, and art direction. Michael Apted Coal Miner's Daughter was honored with a Director's Guild Award for the first episode, "The Stolen Eagle." But artistic considerations aside, instantly addicted viewers will agree with Atia, who notes at one point, "I adore the secrecy, the intrigue. It's most thrilling." --Donald Liebenson
