What is the Germanic leader yelling prior to the battle? Most likely he means to say "Ihr seid verfluchte Hunde!", which means "You are (a bunch of) cursed dogs!" It is not the German language as we know it today.
In the opening scene with the battle with the Germanic tribe, they are heard chanting. The audio of the chanting is the war cry of the Zulu warriors in the 1964 film, "Zulu" with Michael Caine.
What does the Germanic barbarian say in Gladiator? He yells “Err seed far-fluck-tah hooondah!” This kind of sounds like 'Ihr seid verfluchte Hunde! ' in German. In English this would translate to “You are cursed dogs!” Update: Check this out.
As it turns out, the Barbarians' chant is actually lifted directly from the movie Zulu. Zulu is a 1964 historical epic war film that tells the historicized story of the Anglo-Zulu war, with it being one of the biggest war films of its time.
That phrase from AD 52, was uttered by captives and criminals to salute emperor Claudius, before they engaged each other in mortal combat. In ancient Rome, loud crowds witnessed barbaric gladiator events, where men would fight to death against other men…or against animals, such as lions, or tigers.
Zulu (also known as IsiZulu) is one of the 11 official languages spoken in South Africa. It falls under the Nguni group of the Bantu languages and like other Bantu languages, it is written using the Latin alphabet.
Maximus is a general in the professional Roman army (SPQR), but he was Spanish by birth. The Legions were open to any Roman citizen, not just native-born Romans. Since Spain was a Roman province at the time, it's very likely that Maximus was a Roman citizen as well as Spanish native.
Crowe portrays Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne.
But while he utilizes that rage to become an incredibly successful gladiator, as well as a crowd favorite, he's often referred to by a nickname that doesn't seemingly fit: "The Spaniard."
Maximus : Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing.
Resolution: Maximus turns Rome over to the Senate and frees the gladiators. He then dies, and the people honor him. He leaves behind him a Rome that is a better place, even for the gladiators. As Juba says in the final line, “Now we are free.”
As Maximus dies at the end of Gladiator, Lucilla whispers to him that he is home. Her final words to Maximus come to him as he's having visions of his wife and son on their farm in Trujillo. Lucilla says he is home because she knows he's going to be with his wife and son in the afterlife.
But the Gladiator who has really caught our eye is fast and strong Fury, aka Jodie Ounsley. Jodie – who was born profoundly deaf – has swapped the rugby pitch for the famous Gladiators arena and she's already showing off her skills on the show.
Proximo then tells how Marcus Aurelius gave him a wooden sword—the symbol of his freedom—touched him on the shoulder, and freed him. Maximus laughs, and Proximo gets very defensive. He's proud of the fact that the wise emperor touched him on the shoulder.
Soon after the battle, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was murdered by his own son and successor Commodus. Maximus realized this and declined to help Commodus leading the new Emperor to order Quintus to arrest and execute Maximus. Quintus had no choice but to obey and arrested Maximus telling him to not resist.
Tigris of Gaul was brought out of retirement by Emperor Commodus to fight the ex-general Maximus Decimus Meridius in the Colosseum in 180 AD. He was announced as "The only undefeated Gladiator" by the host of the games, Cassius. Tigris of Gaul dual-wielded a sword and an axe in the battle.
Russell Crowe was 35 years old during the production of Gladiator, and his portrayal of Maximus Decimus Meridius garnered an Oscar win. The film featured a talented cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, who was 24 years old and received recognition for his role as Emperor Commodus.
There are roughly 11 million speakers of Zulu (or isiZulu), the vast majority of whom live in South Africa, mostly in the KwaZuluNatal and Gauteng provinces in the east of South Africa. There are also speakers in at least 6 other territories, including Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique and the United Kingdom.
The closest linguistic affiliation of Zulu is with Xhosa, the two languages being mutually intelligible to a great extent. Zulu is spelt in the Roman alphabet. Its vocabulary shows considerable influence from Afrikaans and English. Like many other Bantu languages, Zulu is also a tonal language.
There has been a loss of many of the old Zulu 'A' words or respect (hlonipha) words. This does not mean that Zulu is dying but it is, in fact, a living adapting language because in place of the older vocabulary it is incorporating words from English and modern technology to make it more practical and useable.
