Red Romans

Julius Caesar is best remembered for his assassination. His death, at the hands of his trusted friends and colleagues is associated with the Latin phrase “et tu, Brute.  This phrase which translates to “you too Brutus” is a famous phrase of pop culture due to it being featured in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  However, Caesar never said this line upon witnessing Brutus among his assassins, indicating that Shakespeare wrote the phrase to add weight to Caesar’s betrayal.  Nevertheless, Shakespeare's creative liberties with Caesar's death resulted in one of the most popular pieces of pop culture.  This massive popularity was probably a factor in how Cleopatra (1963) portrays Caesar's assassination.   

 The first key difference from Shakespeare's version is Cleopatra's viewing of the event.  In the film, Cleopatra, consumed with unrest and paranoia over Caesar’s future (further fueled by a series of bad omens that Cleopatra witness such as Caesar having a fiery dream and Calpurnia’s own unrest) goes to consult a priest about the future.  The priest summons a vision from her fire pit for Cleopatra that shows Caesar's betrayal and murder.  Cleopatra's vision is depicted by showing silent footage of Caesar entering the Senate, being ambushed and attacked by his betrayers.  The scenes with Caesar are outlined with red fire due to the otherworldly nature of the ceremony.   Every couple of seconds, Cleopatra's distraught face in a medium close up shot is played over or behind the scenes of Caesar and his assassins.  Her distraught face is outlined in red, further highlighting the otherworldly nature of the vision.  The use of intersecting footage to show Caesar’s fate and Cleopatra's reaction makes the scene a movie in a movie due to the fact that Cleopatra is essentially watching the footage of Caesar being betrayed and murdered.  The repeated medium close up used to show her reaction to Caesar’s demise is done in order to increase the tension and fully show her reaction.  The use of red fire and having Cleopatra's face be tinted in red is done in order to add to the otherworldly nature of the vision scene.  The reason the film has Cleopatra watching a muted Caesar and his assassins is due to the fact that at this point in the film, Cleopatra has become a more active character and her future lover Antony has been introduced.  As the next hour and a half is focused on Cleopatra and Antony, Caesar’s death is more about Cleopatra's reaction than it is about Caesar in order to further develop her character.  This is highlighted by the departure from Shakespeare's vision and the famous “et tu, Brute?” line.  As mentioned previously, Caesar and his assassins cannot be heard over the ominous music and Cleopatra's reaction.  As their mouth’s are still moving, we gather that some dialogue is occurring but we can only guess what the characters are saying.  The muted characters led to the biggest divergence from Shakespeare's version.  This divergence is that fact that upon seeing Brutus among his assassins, Caesar does not say the famous “et tu, Brute?” line and gets killed.  Instead, Brutus is standing near a statute, away from his fellow assassins and is obviously conflicted.  After being surrounded and stabbed repeatedly by his betrayers, the wounded and bloodied Caesar spots Brutus backing away from him while holding his dagger in front of him as if trying to ward Caesar off.  Caesar rushes after him, holding his hands out in front of him as if asking for help or a hug.  He manages to grab a hold of Brutus which leads to Brutus fatally stabbing him in the chest, causing Caesar to slump over and die as Cleopatra begins crying over the fate of her son before fainting.