Tweekums
This four part series tells to story of the siege of Masada; a seemingly impregnable mountaintop fortress were a small band of Jewish fighters attempted to hold off the might of the Roman Tenth Legion. The Zealots, under the leadership of Eleazar Ben Yair retreated to Masada after an uprising has been put down by the Romans; from here they strike out on a number of raids. Eventually Eleazar tries to negotiate a peace with Roman leader Lucius Flavius Silva. Silva thinks his terms are reasonable and takes them back to Rome; unfortunately politics gets in the way and he is ordered back to Judea. Here he lays siege to Masada and with the guidance of Rubrius Gallus, an expert in siege warfare, orders the building of a massive ramp and a siege engine topped by a giant battering ram. This will be a mammoth undertaking and while his men swelter in the heat the Zealots taunt them; the Romans are on minimal water rations and the Zealots and their families have so much water they can swim in it. This leads to rising tensions in the Roman ranks, not helped by the fact that Silva has taken a Jewish lover and is constantly drinking. Inevitably though the ramp is completed and the people of Masada must make a decision about what to do next; they know they can't defeat the Romans at this point.I really enjoyed this series; the story is told at a moderate pace, it isn't rushed but nor does it feel boring. We are introduced to the key characters early on and it is inevitable that one will grow to care about what happens to them as the story unfolds. Peter O'Toole dominates proceedings as Silva; a general who respects his enemy while also being frustrated by him. The rest of the cast, which includes Peter Strauss as Eleazar, Barbara Carrera as Silva's lover Sheva and Anthony Quayle as Gallus does a solid job. Since it was made for television in 1981 it isn't surprising that the violence is less gory than one might expect of a more modern production; this isn't a problem though; in fact it means it can be watched by those who don't like gory scenes. While the series was impressive I think it could have done without the prologue and epilogue where we see modern Israeli soldiers taking part in a ceremony at Masada while a less than subtle narration makes it clear that we are meant to be sympathising with the doomed Zealots in the fort not the besieging Romans… perhaps because we spent more time with the Romans I found them to be more sympathetic, especially Silva and Gallus. That said these scenes didn't spoil the series; they were only a few minutes out of six hours.
naseby
Although TV movies often show they are just that, this four-part series, despite the talky atmosphere at times was really excellent. It had a great and talented cast, though notably, the Americans were the good-guy Zealots and the British the bad-boy Romans. Peter O'Toole (The commander, Flavius Silva) is Irish, he sounds British, of course. The Roman invasion of Judea in prompts Eleazer (Peter Strauss) and his 'renegade' Zealots to take refuge in the virtually impregnable Masada mountain/rock fortress in the middle of what is now the Negev desert, by the Dead Sea. It was formally a Herodian retreat.Flavius Silva is tasked with the Emperor Vespasian's (Timothy West) verve to capture the Zealots. Even though Judea is under Roman rule, the last vestige of a free Judea is atop a rock and must be dealt with. The first major fight the Romans have on arrival is the heat of the daytime desert, which is telling upon the Romans, much to the amusement and gloating of the Zealots on the rock.Silva lays claim to a slave girl as his mistress, (Barbara Carrera) arguing the morals of her people's just cause to have a free Judea, at the same time as stating she hates the Romans, she hates the Zealots too. Anthony Quayle as Rubius Gallus plays the brilliant part so well, as Silva's chum and wise engineer, 'the only man for the job'. He informs Silva that the only way to assault the fortress is to bring a large part of a rocky outcrop over and place it against the Masada fortress as an assault ramp for a siege tower to move up against the fort walls. Silva trusts his friend and implements the plan. He makes sure it's built out of sight of the Zealots though, in spite of Gallus's mention that Eleazer wouldn't be able to do anything about it even if he saw it coming. Adding to Silva's woes, Emperor's minion, Pomponius Falco (David Warner) arrives, as he puts it 'to take the burden' off Silva. He's actually trying to take the glory, being the Emperor's sycophant. He informs Silva he has the Emperor's stamp to end the siege, at least more quickly, or to accelerate himself quickly up the ladder more like! "I've seen good men slit their wrists over him," remarks Gallus - who, when he cops an arrow in his neck whilst surveying the ramp, gives Falco the excuse he needs to take command of the siege over Silva. "That was your irreplaceable officer." says Falco, who had no love lost with Gallus. Silva though, shows his mettle and ousts the little worm, after Falco has barbarically - get this - put jews in the catapults and fired them up the mountainside!With all the main distractions dealt with, Gallus, on his death-bed managed to utter a few last words to his engineers to complete the task. So much so, that the ramp is completed and the siege tower ready to ascend it. The main feature of the siege tower is, that it has a battering-ram mounted at the top of it, with metal plates in the front for protection. Gallus informed his men that the tower must be sent up the ramp at a certain time of day, so that the Zealots would have the sun in their eyes as the tower approaches them. On the day of the assault, the tower ascends the ramp and the scene, with special effects is very well-handled with the suspense, action and incidental music. One thing that amazes you is, that the Romans have the slaves 'pull' the tower up the ramp. (Blocks are sunk into the ramp and with pulleys, the tower is 'pulled' up the ramp - it seems a major engineering feat of the day and shows the Romans' resilience and determination in the field). "If I'd been here a thousand years, I'd have never thought of that.". said Falco earlier. As Eleazer and his 'rebels' are astounded by this shocking new tactic, he seems dumbfounded and unable to grasp the situation. Then he informs the rest of the Zealots to strip beams from Herod's old palace and put the earth between the beams, behind the stone wall that is the ram's target (To absorb the blows like a sponge). After a battle between Roman archers on the tower and Eleazer's, the ram reaches the walls and is pushed against it. Eleazer's new wall is absorbing the blows well. This stops the wall from shattering. The Romans are now perplexed. "We haven't been supplied with a wonder worker to raise Rubius Gallus from the dead, so I'm open to suggestions!" says Silva to his officers. After much debating, they set fire to the exposed beams of Eleazer's wonder walls. But then, the wind changes and it blows against the assault tower. The Romans sound the recall, intending taking the fort in the morning. The Zealots rejoice, but Eleazer knows, that it may only be putting off the inevitable for a while. "Remember who built it," says one of Silva's officers, "The iron (front) plates won't melt before the wind changes." Silva replies: "And they can't build another wall in the same place, the fire will keep them away." On Silva's men entering unopposed, there is an eerie silence. The Zealots have all taken their lives rather than be taken or killed by the Romans.This had a good script, though it is part-taken from a book, 'The Antagonists', some heady wheeling and dealing and corruption from the Roman side whilst, quite rightly, really, showing the Zealots as spirited and stubborn in the face of aggression. So much so, that Masada now serves as the 'swearing in' ceremony of the Israeli Defence Forces. A great mini-epic.
mistressmalevolent
By casting Americans as the Jews and Brits as the Romans the original intention must have been to make the Romans the bad guys, but despite a highly effective "bad guy" supporting performance by David Warner (who won an Emmy for this) the Romans come across as reasonable and fair-minded and with the exception of a radiant Barbara Carrera the Jews come across highly unsympathetically as religious fanatics and terrorists. This is largely due to casting the cream of British theater acting as the Romans and comparatively weak US television actors as the Jews, the best of whom is Peter Strauss, who although a decent actor, has his limitations shown up in every scene he shares with O'Toole, who is at the top of his game throughout. O'Toole's penultimate soliloquy at Strauss's house is wonderfully written and breathtakingly accomplished; it is so powerful, and his disgust at the fate of the Jews so profound, that the closing real-life scenes at Masada are greatly diminished in impact and fail to achieve their intended emotional effect, coming across instead as banal and jingoistic. Still, well worth your time and money
p_aybarra
Peter O'Toole and Peter Strauss were both great. This is probably one of O'Toole's better performances. Great story, excellent cast, spectacular locations, great performances from Barbara Carrera, Anthony Quayle, and David Warner. This mini-series is definitely well worth your time. This is based on the book, The Antagonists, by Ernest K. Gann. I read it, and the "sequel", The Triumph. Read both books, if you can find them. The Triumph is the story of Flavius Silva after Masada. Almost as entertaining as the movie.
