The documentary tracks the history of one of the bloodiest of all bloodsports–Man vs. ravenous wild beasts such as Barbary lions, Scottish black bears and Bengal tigers. You may think that there isn’t enough material here to squeeze out a two-hour long documentary film, but you’d be wrong. We assume that the gladiatorial combats were merely a form of primitive entertainment. The documentary, however, says there’s more to the story-it was also an imperial declaration-an empire that encompassed large swathes of the known world and cements its reputation by dominating nature. Also involved here was a certain amount of scientific curiosity-what were wild animals like when cornered and could man, with no natural weapons but wit and courage, defeat them in hand-to-hand combat?

Unlike some recent documentaries, Animal Gladiators does not prop itself on celebrity shoulders. So don’t expect an Al Gore, Leonardo di Caprio or even Sir David Attenborough. The narrator remains behind the scenes and the bulk of the documentary features anonymous actors in ancient Roman togs and a few animal specimens, not to mention the talking heads that all such documentaries feel obliged to interview.

There is clearly a wealth of research that’s gone into the making of this film. Given that it’s a subject that gets, at the most, about a paragraph in most books dealing with the Roman Empire, one wouldn’t have expected the entire background to the sport-especially the part that details how the animals were caught (different traps for different species) and transported all the way to Rome. There are also some interesting insights into the psychology of the times. One of the reasons why elephants became so popular in the arena was to remind the people of how this most powerful weapon of their once-formidable enemy, Carthage, was now under complete Roman control.

There are moments, during the re-enactment of the combats, when it becomes clear that the animal and human actors are being superimposed into the backdrop of colosseum. Such oversight while using computer graphics is unpardonable. Also, while we acknowledge that any such documentary would need scholarly sanction, it seems silly to have a Harvard professor on screen simply to state an obvious fact like, “The Romans followed a very different moral code from ours.”
VERDICT:
Animal Gladiators is strongly recommended, especially for those who fell asleep during history lessons. This documentary might just make you appreciate lessons from the past.