Révoltes barbares

As a former ancient history teacher, I found this series had a distinct lack of objectivity, instead opting to take side of the barbarians as freedom fighters against the oppression of Rome. I also noted the historical inaccuracies others have mentioned. History is about taking a good look at all sides of the story, seeking out evidence not just on the facts, but the motives behind them. This series over-sensationalizes the barbarians while leaving out the fact that some of them did not enjoy popular support. Try Terry Jones' Barbarians for a much better idea of what really went on.

I think the keyword here is docudrama. Is the series 100% accurate? No, it can't be, we weren't there and most of the history of the times came from the Romans themselves. That said, it had well acted and engrossing stories that made me do much additional reading on the significant characters. It was enlightening, fun and entertaining to boot. If I was a teacher and wanted to get young adults interested in Roman history, I would definitely use this as an introduction. I highly recommend.

A documentary series on the rebel leaders who stood up to the Roman Empire, with varying degrees of success. Through narration, expert opinion and dramatized scenes we see the histories of Hannibal, Viriathus, Spartacus, Boudica, Arminius, Fritigern, Alaric, Geiseric and Attila the Hun and their struggles for independence from Rome.

An interesting period of history, with colourful subjects, well told. Well dramatized too - not just basic battle scenes as many military history series seem to consist of, but decent dialogue and human drama, in addition to some great action scenes. Many well known actors and actresses too.

On the downside, the dramatization sometimes takes precedence over historical accuracy. Also, the experts that are wheeled out feel very staged, speech-filled, preachy and superfluous. For example, why on earth do you need Jesse Jackson for a series about the Roman Empire? The experts are largely just padding.

It represents only the invitation and the first step to discover enemies of the Rome, to see stories and heroes and to explore mechanismes of ilitary actions and political decisions. Far to be perfect, it is just a docudrama.Decent in all senses.

The "drama" part of this docudrama is surprisingly excellent. The dialogue, acting, costumes, and special effects blew me away. However, I can't for the life of me figure out why they decided to have CEOs, random politicians, and Civil Rights activists interrupt great scenes with useless comments. The professors and archeologists sometimes have insightful comments, but everyone else is laughable. Would be interested to see an edit of this series where all of that stuff is removed, because it really could stand on its own.