Why was Commodus so hellbent on making enemies for himself and for Rome? Every time he had the chance to do something that would make him truly popular and beloved, he obstinately rejected that opportunity and made it instead into a new opportunity to behave like a hateful and well hated bully.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
Commodus hated his father Marc Aurel that is why he used every opportunity to do things opposite of his father, whether it made sense or not.
shareThe guy was a narcisstic, immature egomaniac like many dictators. And like many dictators, they do things that really make no frickin' sense whatsoever!
shareUmmm, because it's a MOVIE! The real Commodus was probably mentally ill and spent his time pretending to be Hercules while shooting wild animals in the Colloseum with his bow. The scenes where he screws up and invites hatred were imagined by the screenwriter. According to Thomas W. Africa, he was just a self-indugent overgrown child who didn't especially gain enemies until an ill-advised attempt on his life put fear in him. After that he was always trying to root out conspiracies, and this of course, ENGENDERED conspiracies. His was finally strangled to death by his athletic trainer after he vomited up poison given to him by his mistress Marcia. Since he had the build of Hercules, he was a hard man to kill.
shareMrPie7 is correct. The real Commodus was hailed by the people of Rome when he became Emperor, though he had moments of unusual behavior. Within a couple of years of becoming Emperior he suffered a very serious illiness that might have affected his brain. Thereafter his behavior became increasingly bizare, such that severe mental illiness would probably have been the diagnosis today.
The film script bears only a tangentaly relationship to the truth and that is only in the first half. After the intermission there's about 5 minutes of truth and the rest off into the wildest sort of invention, only the names of a few principals weren't changed. Gladiator, even though fiction as well, is closer to the truth than TFOTRE. The HBO series ROME went to great lengths to be as historical accurate as possible, especially in the everyday life of the Romans.
I do have to say that the truth is just as interesting, maybe even more, than this almost completely fictional script. It has been said that historical films reflect the times they are made in rather than the events they purport to tell about, that themes of such films would not even be understood by those that lived the events.
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