One of the greatest things about this obscure and lengthy German/Italian TV video is that it contains none of the over-famous and over-paid Hollywood faces that plague us in the usual video-store fare. Another huge advantage is that, being set in Ancient Rome, it will never feature a hideous American gas-guzzling automobile, neither will characters use a telephone or wear mass-produced off-the-peg clothing. It also eschews those tedious set-pieces with a "cast of thousands" that the Hollywood egomaniacs feel obliged to deliver. Instead, it is a love story between two young people raised in rustic simplicity in a country villa. Their love is interrupted by fate, and the rest is 90 minutes of turmoil as Claudius the healthy peasant boy becomes Nero the tortured idealist who in despair ultimately dies by his own hand.
I gather from other comments that the story has little historical accuracy, but neither did Ben Hur nor The Ten Commandments. Hans Matheson as Nero makes a decent job of a difficult role. He transitions from simple country boy to deranged paladin effectively enough considering the complications of episodic scripting and Italian TV boss Berlusconi's feeble brain-power. When Poppea drugged him, I felt sorry: he would obviously never be the same again, and indeed, he did condemn the lover of his youth, Acte (popular German TV actress Rike Schmid), to death as a Christian, but more probably because she was taller than he. This is for fans of films set in Ancient Rome, who do not have PhDs in Roman history. As such it works fine: settle back for three hours of togas and treachery and take no notice of the self-appointed experts.
I gather from other comments that the story has little historical accuracy, but neither did Ben Hur nor The Ten Commandments. Hans Matheson as Nero makes a decent job of a difficult role. He transitions from simple country boy to deranged paladin effectively enough considering the complications of episodic scripting and Italian TV boss Berlusconi's feeble brain-power. When Poppea drugged him, I felt sorry: he would obviously never be the same again, and indeed, he did condemn the lover of his youth, Acte (popular German TV actress Rike Schmid), to death as a Christian, but more probably because she was taller than he. This is for fans of films set in Ancient Rome, who do not have PhDs in Roman history. As such it works fine: settle back for three hours of togas and treachery and take no notice of the self-appointed experts.