What is the significance of a symbol? In relation to people, a symbol usually represents honor and elicits pride. For paradigm, the American flag represents freedom and new opportunities, and ultimately sparks patriotism within American citizens. But what happens when such an emblem vanishes?
Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle, starring Channing Tatum as the lead, follows a Roman centurion and his slave as they journey to return Rome’s icon: the eagle. The movie is a 2011 historical adventure film adapted from Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth (1954). The movie is rated PG-13 and runs for 1 hour and 54 minutes.
In the ancient Roman, the emblem was a golden eagle with outstretched wings; it was also the standard, a representation of Roman traditions and pride, for the army and every legion carried an eagle. Wherever the eagle was, Rome was there also. The eagle disappeared in 120 AD along with the Ninth Legion in northern Britain; 20 years later, Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum), son of the centurion of the Ninth Legion, journeys to restore his family’s name and retrieve the beloved icon. Accompanied by his slave, Marcus Aquila travels beyond Hadrian’s Wall into northern Britain oblivious of what is to come.
This film is the typical historical adventure movie, and I found it to be too predictable. While watching the movie, I caught myself saying an actor’s lines a second before he did. The cinematography was convincing though, as in it made me feel like I was in a Roman province; the acting was subpar along with the musical score. Nonetheless, the movie is a good one to watch on a rainy day (as I did) or if you want to ruminate on the effects a symbol has on your life. Maybe it is a family heirloom or something else dear to heart; how would you feel if it suddenly disappeared, and to what extent would you go to retrieve it?