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8 Of The Most Memorable Messianic Characters In Modern Cinema

After all, the Messiah archetype comes parcelled with a rich tapestry of themes ripe for adaption. The saviour complex and other heroic attributes are woven together expertly to create a character that is at once an unparalleled leader and social reject. It’s a social dichotomy. An inner paradox that serves the Messianic figure like a quintessential gene to the field of biology.

6 & 7) Maximus Decimus Meridius & William Wallace

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Though each of these films is grounded within different periods in history, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Mel Gibson’s Braveheart share a common denominator in the messianic archetype. What’s more, both can be labelled as historical classics. The former is Scott’s masterful swords-and-sandals epic with the latter being actor/director Mel Gibson’s sword-and-er…kilts blockbuster? Regardless, these two films were released within five years of each other and both tout tales of devotion, freedom and, ultimately, sacrifice.

Maximus’s journey in Gladiator is a revenge-fuelled odyssey. Following the sudden death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his power-crazed son Commodus causes unrest in the Roman corridors of power by sentencing our heroic general to death. Maximus narrowly escapes, but fails to reach his family in time to save them. And so, he enrols for the Gladiator games and uses his swelling popularity to challenge the immoral Commodus. As the story progresses, Maximus succeeds in the triumph over tyranny and his willingness to die for his people results in his untimely death in the Roman Colosseum. Perhaps the most symbolic messianic segment is the penultimate scene when his body is carried out of the arena by a group of slaves. He is their saviour. The man who laid down his life for their cause, and Maximus’s ascending arc from social outcast to an influential and inspiring hero echoes many of cinema’s messianic conventions.

Historical inaccuracies aside, Braveheart retains its place as one of the greatest films of the modern era. It’s a one-dimensional, mythic tale of Scottish upheaval spearheaded by none other than William Wallace in the 13th century. Adorning tribal-esque face paint, the character of Wallace shares strands of DNA with other Messiah figures, and valiantly fights for Scottish freedom against the adversary. As the narrative progresses, Wallace knows full well that his fight is against the odds and, in one of the film’s more emotional scenes, prays to his God. “Lord, give me the strength to die well,” he says. Not only does this portray him as a paragon of belief and idealism, it also mirrors the way Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. Wallace, like Jesus, knew that his hour was near and even after his eventual execution; his ideology was enough to inspire his people as eloquently illustrated in the film’s closing moments.

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