The First King

Italy 2019. dir. Matteo Rovere. 127 mins.

Available September 25 on DVD and Bluray. Well Go USA Entertainment

Reviewer Ed Farolan

This is a somewhat unique film, different from most Well Go USA Entertainment DVDs focused on Chinese Kung Fu.What´s more unique about it is it´s in an unheard of language, Proto-Italic, the language used in ancient Italy which presumably evolved into Latin.

It's also didactic in that it relates the story of the two shepherd brothers, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.  

The film opens in  Old Latium in 753 BC. A  flash flood causes the two shepherd brothers to be stranded and captured as slaves in Alba Longa. They rebel and are able to free the other Latin and Sabine prisoners and take the Vesta priestess Satnei, who carries with her the sacred fire, as hostage.

It's not only interesting as a film per se but also educational. I highly recommend it, especially for secondary school students who are into history or college students majoring in European history.

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