The Eagle

Movie: The Eagle

Genre: drama

Synopsis: The movie opens in Roman-occupied Britain in 120 A.D.  Five thousand men of the Roman Ninth Legion were riding into the wilds northern Britain (what we now call Scotland), led by Flavius Aquila.  They were never seen again. Lost, along with the men, was the Eagle of the Ninth – a gold eagle that was the symbol of the Ninth.  Twenty years later, Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), son of Flavius, comes to Great Britain as his first assignment as a new officer.  After hearing rumors that the gold eagle of the Ninth has been sighted, Marcus convinces his superiors to allow him to take his slave, Esca (Jaimie Bell), as a guide and journey into northern Britain to try and find what happened to the Ninth, to find the gold eagle and to hopefully clear his father’s name.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  I had never heard before just what the purpose of the Hadrian Wall in Great Britain was.  It was built to separate the “civilized” southern Britain from the barbarians of northern England.  While perhaps not completely accurate from a historical perspective, I found the movie to be entertaining.  It certainly did not make me want to time travel back to England in the year 140 to live under Roman rule.

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