Spartacus - film summary


written by Renae S.


It starts in 70 BC. The Roman republic stood in the center of the civilization. It was human slavery. Then a woman had a child and named him Spartacus. He grew up in slavery, and it was 2,000 years before slavery would stop.

Then the Roman leader (Batiatus) was walking around looking at the slaves. When he saw Spartacus, he said he had good muscle tone and he wanted to see his teeth. Batiatus brought Spartacus back home with him.

He brought Spartacus back to be a gladiator. They must fight to the death. They get pampered: they get bathed, massaged, and even given a lady. They get branded on their thighs.

Marcellus, the trainer, gives Spartacus a sword and tells him to fight him, but Spartacus doesn’t want to. Then Spartacus gets his girl, a slave. They meet each other.

She is very nervous. The people look in and start bugging him. Her name is Varinia. She likes him. She has to leave.

They are all training for the gladiator fights. While he’s training, he keeps seeing Varinia. Marcellus sees him looking at her. He was just about to visit with her, but Marcellus takes her away. Spartacus goes to sleep.

In the morning he sees Varinia. Varinia gives him some water along with the rest of the gladiators. He gets to eat. Varinia keeps looking at him. He sees her again and they get water again. They smile at each other. He grabs her hand.

A Roman leader (Crassus) comes to Batiatus’s place. He comes with Lady Helena and Lady Claudia. They want to see the gladiators fight. Lady Helena picks Spartacus, and Lady Claudia picks a big black dude, an Ethiopian.

Glabrus, the other Roman leader, started looking at Varinia’s ankles, and she “accidentally” spills water on him. He asks her where she came from. She said Brittania.

The slaves (gladiators) start to fight. One gets killed. The other gladiators are looking through the holes in the waiting area.

Spartacus and the black dude are fighting next. The black Ethiopian is using a trident (looks like a pitchfork). Varinia is watching them fight. She is scared and worrying about Spartacus.

The black dude could of killed Spartacus, but he didn’t. Instead he went after the ladies and the Roman leaders. He was killed by a guard. Spartacus was still alive.

Marcellus tells Spartacus that Varinia has been sold to the Roman leaders. Then he tells him there’s no talking in the kitchen, slave. Spartacus gets angry and kills him. He starts a slave rebellion, and the slaves break free. They escape. They are fighting the guards. They take the Roman’s horses and leave.

At the Roman Senate, they are talking about the slaves escaping. Gracchus the senator speaks. Glabrus is made commander of the garrison. Antoninus is a musician and singer who meets the Roman leader, Crassus. Crassus is talking to Glabrus about taking care of the slaves.

Meanwhile, Spartacus is telling the slaves, “Why are you acting like Romans?” They were watching the slaves beat up on their previous Roman masters. The former slaves say they are searching for wine, not bread. Spartacus tells them, “We should become an army of gladiators and defeat the Romans.” They scream, “Yeah!” They are going to find more people for the army.

Spartacus finds Varinia. She starts crying. They start laughing when she tells him the fat Batiatus couldn’t catch her when she ran away. She tells him that she loves him. They ride off on his horse.

Varinia’s old owner (Crassus) finds out that she ran off with Spartacus, and he is kinda worried. Once the deal was made for her, he could still have her as a slave.

Crassus shows Glabrus Rome with tons of armies, and he says, “This is Rome.” The slaves are making an army camp and they are training to be strong and ready for warfare.

Antoninus ends up at the army camp, too. So were a whole bunch of women. Antoninus does a magic trick with an egg; he makes little chicks come out of the eggs. Spartacus wants an egg, too. However, when he gently cracks open the egg, it busts into his face as yellow yolk. Varinia and Spartacus laugh together at the joke.

Varinia asks Spartacus what he is thinking, and he says, “I’m free, and I don’t know what to do. I’m not smart.” “Yes, you are,” says Varinia.

Then an Arabian looking dude comes to the camp. He offers Spartacus some ships for a large amount of money. This way Spartacus and his slave army can leave Italy for freedom. Seven months from now the ships will be assembled off the coast. The Arabian also tells them that the Romans are heading this direction. “What are you going to do about it,” he asks.

Spartacus says, “We’ll find out when they get here.” One of the slaves tells him they are coming, and that “we better go.” They go and sneak up on the Romans and attack them.

The Senate is trying to find a strategy to defeat the slave army. They call them “just slaves.” Crassus just quit his position. Gracchus the senator debates against Crassus, the general. Gracchus is very upset.

The slaves are walking a long way through sun, rain, wind, or even snow. Varinia is going to have a baby boy this spring.

Crassus is trying to figure out what to do. He figures out what to do. People are talking and saying how could Spartacus train an army in 7 months. It just doesn’t sound right.

The slaves are partying. The Arabian dude comes back with bad news. He tells Spartacus there are no ships. They have been double-crossed.

They are trapped. Roman forces from the north, and Pompeii’s army from the west, are attacking the army of gladiators and slaves. Spartacus can’t escape to the sea because they have no ships. Crassus paid the ships not to come.

Spartacus tells the army of slaves about the ships. He tells them that they must attack Rome straight on. Also, the Roman general Crassus is telling the Roman army to kill Spartacus and kill as many slaves as possible. The slaves are marching toward the Romans, and the Romans are marching toward the slaves.

Crassus thinks that Spartacus doesn’t know that Pompeii is coming, but he really does. The Romans think they are going to win. Batiatus, the gladiator dealer, visits Crassus and asks him if the surviving slaves can be auctioned off. “No,” was his answer. Crassus wants to hang or crucify the slaves.

Spartacus walks around his camp and sees everybody sleeping, and he sees the children. He’s talking to Varinia. He is happy that she is going to have a baby.

The next day the two armies are on the battlefield. They are ready to fight. The Romans have several armies joining together. Finally, the fighting starts. The slaves launch a log of fire at the Romans. A lot of people are being killed. You can barely see the ground because so many people were killed.

The surviving slaves are being told, “You can live if you show the dead or alive body of Spartacus.” Spartacus stands up and says, “I am Spartacus.” Several others stand up with him and say they are Spartacus. Then everybody stands up and says they are Spartacus!

Varinia has a baby and the Romans ask her where her husband, Spartacus, is. She says, “He’s dead.” Crassus sees his former servant, Antoninus. Then Crassus says, “The slaves must be crucified by the road going into Rome, but hold Antoninus and Spartacus for last.” There were 6,000 slaves crucified on Appian Way.

Crassus is back with Varinia, and he wants her love. He puts a Roman necklace around her neck. She also got a new Roman outfit from him. Crassus tells Varinia he loves her. She tells him that she loves Spartacus, not him.

Spartacus finds out from Crassus that Varinia is alive and so is her baby. Spartacus wants to see his baby, and he was wondering if they ever could have won. Crassus wants to know if Spartacus is really Spartacus, but Spartacus won’t talk back. He just spits in the face of Crassus. Crassus says Spartacus and Antoninus have to fight each other, and the victor will be crucified.

Spartacus doesn’t want Antoninus to die on the cross, and Antoninus doesn’t want Spartacus to die on the cross. Spartacus wins, but now he has to be crucified.

Varinia is freed from bondage to Crassus by the senator. Batiatus takes her in a wagon and along the road Varinia sees Spartacus on a cross. He is still alive. He gets to see his son. Varinia says, “He’s free!” She says good-bye to him and she goes away.

The End