HIST 223 Medieval Europe: History Illuminated: The Eagle: A Missing Standard and an Unlikely Friendship

Based on historical novelist Rosemary Sutcliff's book, "The Eagle of the Ninth," Channing Tatum leads this 2011 film adaptation directed by Scottish born Kevin Macdonald. The film is set in Roman occupied Britain in 120 AD and begins with the telling of the Ninth Legion who marched into what was unconquered Northern Territory. During this quest, all five-thousand men mysteriously disappeared along with the symbol of Roman strength, the treasured standard - a golden eagle. Unable to bear the shame of the beloved standard and the disappearance of an entire legion, the Emperor Hadrian constructs a giant wall to cut off the entire north of Britain.

The film then jumps to twenty years later and continues with the story of Marcus Flavius Aquila, the son of the Centurion who was leading the Ninth Legion when they disappeared. Marcus is newly promoted to Centurion and requests to run the garrison in Britain with thoughts of achieving such greatness that he could overshadow the embarrassment and shame that the disappearance of his father and the Standard have brought to his family name. After just a short time in charge of the garrison, Marcus saves the entire post from an attack by an angry mob of Druids. In the process of protecting and rescuing his men, Marcus is greatly injured and sent to his uncle's house to recover. In the process of recovering Marcus is discharged from the army due to his injuries, despite his heroic efforts at the garrison.

While in recovery at his uncle's villa, Marcus saves the life of a Celtic slave, Esca, who was sentenced to die in the arena. Upon saving his life, even though Esca despises everything that Rome stands for, he swears his allegiance to Marcus for saving his life. Marcus hears rumors of the standard being spotted North of the wall and so bound by an oath of honor Esca leads Marcus past the wall in hopes of finding the standard and returning it to Rome to clear his family name. Once past the wall, Marcus's life is in the hands of his slave as they navigate through all the different tribes trying to find out where the ninth legion could have disappeared to. In what would now be present day Scotland, the two men are forced to rely and fight together as they encounter some tribesmen who would rather kill them then help them. The last forty minutes of the film make you wonder if Esca will end up betraying Marcus to the Seal tribe who end up having the standard, all of which culminates to an exciting chase and one last battle where I will let you find out for yourselves the fate of Marcus and Esca.

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While this was a very entertaining movie to watch, there were a couple things that seemed to stem from "Hollywood" and not historical accuracy. Esca is able to speak to everyone they encounter even though he is from present day Northern England and they venture deep into the hill of Scotland. While some Germanic tribes spoke similar dialects, it is foolish to think that Esca would be able to communicate with everyone, especially since in the movie they show them traveling great distances and speaking to different looking tribes. It was also very interesting to me as well that when the Roman soldiers were pictured they were somewhat clean cut and put together; yet anytime Marcus and Esca passed through a tribal village, it was dark and muddy and the people in that village were all dirty. The film did portray the men of these villages with long hair which we have learned from our history text by Bennett might actually have been the case for some Germanic tribes, especially when compared to the clean cut Romans.

A theme that was constant in the film and was also shown through the personal relationship between Marcus and Esca was the tension between Rome and all others. In the film you find out that Esca's family was killed by a Roman invasion so he utterly despises Rome, but because of honor he pledges himself to Marcus and forms a bond. The film portrays everyone else that was not Roman to despise Rome and always be on the verge of attack; however, my understanding was that while this may have been the case most of the time, there were some tribes who coexisted with the Romans.

The overall message in this film was honor and trust, and while I have not studied Roman culture intensely, I would say that these topics would not be a stretch from the truth. As far as the validity of historical context, it does seem like they portrayed some accurate aspects of the tensions between Rome and the people of the lands that it occupied. I would say that they were lazy with differentiating the different groups in Britain and made them all speak the same language. The costumes were well done and, with the exception of making all the Celtic tribesman dirty, the war paint and variations of war paint the tribes wore felt authentic. As a history newbie, this movie has its take-away points and has a somewhat authentic historical feel; however, I would consult your local historian before using this film as your go-to information at a dinner party.