In 60 B.C., druids led by Guttuart (Max von Sydow) witness a comet and prophesies the coming of a king to oppose the Romans. Vercingetorix (Christopher Lambert) lost his father when his uncle Gobanittio conspired with the Romans. Guttuart nurtured him to be the king of Gaul. Julius Caesar (Klaus Maria Brandauer) befriends the unknown young man as he kills his uncle to avenge his father. He joins Caesar to invade Britannia for half of the booty. The Gaul tribes are double-crossed by Caesar after one of the leaders revolted. Vercingetorix raises an army to battle Caesar.
The opening of a comet traveling in space lays out the movie's high ambitions. At times, this is a big production. It's the hubris that makes the fall so much greater. The dialog is horribly clunky and laughable. The dubbing is terrible reminiscent of the bad dubbing from earlier time. Lambert is not a particularly subtle actor but he could fit the role. His hair is so ridiculous that it's almost hopeless to take him seriously. There are great actors in this and it's so sad to see them in this. Director Jacques Dorfmann is simply over his head. Even the extras look uncertain. Dorfmann has no sense of cinematic style. He is more or less being one of those weekend re-enactors. I'm not even going to dig into any historical inaccuracies. I don't really care about that if this is a good movie. It's not.
The opening of a comet traveling in space lays out the movie's high ambitions. At times, this is a big production. It's the hubris that makes the fall so much greater. The dialog is horribly clunky and laughable. The dubbing is terrible reminiscent of the bad dubbing from earlier time. Lambert is not a particularly subtle actor but he could fit the role. His hair is so ridiculous that it's almost hopeless to take him seriously. There are great actors in this and it's so sad to see them in this. Director Jacques Dorfmann is simply over his head. Even the extras look uncertain. Dorfmann has no sense of cinematic style. He is more or less being one of those weekend re-enactors. I'm not even going to dig into any historical inaccuracies. I don't really care about that if this is a good movie. It's not.