Search - Augustus on DVD

William E. from ATKINSON, IL
Reviewed on 3/18/2011...

I have always been a history buff. The town of Augsburg (Germany) was named after Augustus and founded in 15 BC. I lived there for four years.

I thought the film entertaining and interesting in that it portrayed a young Octavian with all the faults and weaknesses of a human as well as getting an insight on some of his decision-making processes.

One difficulty in viewing "historical" films is trying to determine how much content is actual history.

Even though Peter O'Toole can really ham up his roles at times, I rate this film a 4.5 because I enjoyed it.

It's understandable that some viewers would rate it lower because it is so long (178 mins), therefore making it more difficult to sit through. This is an unfortunate but necessary requirement when "character building" a historical figure. The director needs to portray the person in their best and, sometimes, worst views. The scenes are capable of altering the viewer's preception of that person.

A documentary of a historical figure would be much shorter because it usually just states the facts without any real continuous story line.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.