This is one of the best battle scenes never filmed: by discovering it 25 years ago, spectators immediately understood that they were seeing a great film

A large mud terrain, in which thousands of Roman sandals wade, drag hundreds of red capes and kiss dozens of pulleys. Between the few disheveled trees that stand on the plain opposite, sinister howls suddenly sound. Germanic hordes are preparing to attack. They will not surrender.

By sighing after the flight of a little red-gorge, General Maximus Decimus Meridius looks obvious: he will have to conduct the assault. While the majestic partition of a particularly inspired Hans Zimmer is rising and the remarkable staging of Ridley Scott is putting in action, Russell Crowe delivers a masterful speech to his men, and kicks off one of the most impressive battles in the history of cinema.

A Forest on Fire

Difficult to offer Gladiator public a more epic introduction than this unforgettable sequence. Sensational, exciting, vibrant, she gives us a perfect presentation of her protagonist while offering us a breathtaking spectacle.

For the needs of the scene, Scott did not hesitate to take out heavy artillery:

“The forestry commission wanted to get rid of a forest, so I said: 'I'm going to take care of it. I'm going to reduce it to ashes.' So I was able to have 400 meters of forest that I was able to burn and where I was able to do what I wanted “he said According to the Ranker website A few years ago.

Universal Pictures

“Everything happens at the same time”

As for how to film the sequence, instead of working traditionally, the British filmmaker has decided to opt for a more radical technique, in order to save precious time:

“I arrived, and I thought that I could not film the scene with a camera after the other. It would have taken me an eternity. I would still be shooting the scene today. I told myself that I was going to go to 8 cameras”he said at the microphone of GQ.

“In reality, it's simple: if you have a thousand extras on this side, Marcus Aurelius at the top of the hill and Russell Crowe at the bottom among the catapults and the canons, just install your cameras at all these positions, to scream 'action' and everything happens at the same time in a huge scene. So I was in my tent, looking at 8 cameras, I was calling it: deceived, changes your angle. But we did it all in two sockets, no more. “

The result? A memorable and breathtaking introduction to one of the most epic films of its generation.

(Re) Discover the trailer for “Gladiator” …