''The First King: Birth of an Empire'' (), released as ''Romulus v Remus: The First King'' in the UK, is a 2019 Italian

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Matteo Rovere Matteo Rovere (born 22 January 1982) is an Italian filmmaker. He's the youngest Italian filmmaker to have won the Nastro d'argento for best producer, with ''I Can Quit Whenever I Want''. Life and career Born in Rome in 1982, Matteo Rovere sta ...

. It stars Alessandro Borghi and Alessio Lapice. Set in the 8th century BC, it is about the shepherd brothers

Romulus and Remus In Roman mythology, Romulus and (, ) are twins in mythology, twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the Founding of Rome, founding of the History of Rome, city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his frat ...

and the

founding of Rome The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hillfort, hilltop villages during the Prehi ...

. All dialogue is spoken in an early form of Latin. The movie had a budget of 7.5 million euros. The film was theatrically released in Italy on 31 January 2019 by

01 Distribution Rai Cinema S.p.A. is an Italian film production company owned by RAI, the national public broadcaster of Italy. Since its inception, the company has invested nearly €1 billion in the production of over 900 films. History Rai Cinema was forme ...

Plot

Old Latium or ' () is a region of the Italian Peninsula bounded to the north by the Tiber, Tiber River, to the east by the central Apennine Mountains, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea and to the south by Monte Circeo. It was the territory of the Latins ...

in 753 BC, a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

causes the two shepherd brothers

Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

and Remus to be stranded and captured as slaves in

Alba Longa Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latins (Italic tribe), Latin city in Central Italy in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. The ancient Romans believed it to be the founder and head of the ...

. They are able to rebel and free the other

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

prisoners and take the Vesta priestess Satnei, as a hostage. Romulus steals the sacred fire but is stabbed in the side by an Alban soldier. In a conflict concerning the injured Romulus, Remus ends up killing the Latin leader and becomes the new leader of the tribe. Rather than face the Alban Army, the group flees into a forest. The group face and defeat a warrior clan and Remus makes himself King over the surviving women, children, and old men of their . During a

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

, Satnei predicts that one of the two brothers will become a great king and build an

empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

larger than what can be imagined, but to do so he will have to kill the other brother. The tribe assume that the prophecy means that Romulus will end up dead for the sake of his brother's greatness. Remus refuses to accept a divine order that requires him to kill his brother. He extinguishes the sacred fire of Vesta, kills an old priest and leaves Satnei helpless in the middle of a forest. Returning to the , Remus degrades all the inhabitants into slaves. Romulus regains his health and confronts Remus about his actions. Remus, regretful, goes to find Satnei, who while dying from having been attacked by wild animals tells him that sparing Romulus now means that it is Remus who will end up dead at the hands of Romulus. Romulus is able to rekindle the sacred fire and becomes the new leader of the . He appoints a young woman to watch over the fire so it remains lit, thereby establishing the first Vestal. Remus, trying to escape the prophecy, heads for the Tiber with a group of men, but is attacked by Alban cavalry and only saved by the tribe of Romulus. Remus then claims the tribe for himself, and after threatening to extinguish the sacred flame is confronted by his brother. Remus and Romulus fight and Romulus triumphs, mortally wounding Remus. On his deathbed he makes peace with his brother, recognizes him as his king, and tells him to establish a city on the other side of the river. The tribe cross the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

and burn Remus' body on a pyre. Romulus swears to build the world's largest and most powerful city on his brother's ashes. He gives the city the name of Rome. During the end credits, an animated map shows the expansion of the territory subject to Rome up to its peak under the emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

in 117.

Themes

The film portrays a struggle between power and ''

pietas (), translated variously as "duty", "religiosity" or "religious behavior", "loyalty", "devotion", or "filial piety" (English "piety" derives from the Latin), was one of the chief virtues among the ancient Romans. It was the distinguishing virt ...

'', as represented by the two brothers. Ultimately, power is shown to become order only when submitted to the will of the gods. The director had no intention to comment on contemporary politics, but said that the myth's theme of love and

hubris Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), is extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence and complacency, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. Hubris, arrogance, and pretension are related to the need for vi ...

"talks to us through symbols that we can interpret in the light of our current time".

Cast

* Alessandro Borghi: Remus * Alessio Lapice:

Fabrizio Rongione Fabrizio Rongione (born 3 March 1973) is a Belgian screenwriter, film producer and actor with Italian citizenship. Career Rongione was born in Brussels, Belgium of Italian descent. He collaborated with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in ''Roset ...

: Lars * : Tefarie * Tania Garribba: Satnei * Lorenzo Gleijeses: Purtnass * : Elaxantre * Max Malatesta: Veltur * Fiorenzo Mattu: Mamercus * : Adieis * Antonio Orlando: Erennis * Vincenzo Pirrotta: Cai * : Aranth * Ludovico Succio: Marce * Martinus Tocchi: Lubces * Marina Occhionero:

Acca Larentia Acca Larentia or Acca Larentina was a mythical woman, later a goddess of fertility, in Roman mythology whose festival, the Larentalia, was celebrated on December 23. Myths Foster mother In one mythological tradition (that of Licinius Macer, ...

* Nina Fotaras: Ramtha * Emilio De Marchi: Testa di Lupo * Luca Elmi: Maccus

Production

The idea to make the film in archaic Latin came from a desire to make the characters sound ancestral, which would help the audience to attune themselves to the story. The language was created by a team from the University Guglielmo Marconi led by professor Luca Alfieri, with the aid of Francesco Pirozzi and Beatrice Grieco. The team studied archaic Latin and "fleshed it out" with help from the reconstructed

Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Eu ...

. Two visual influences were the films '' Valhalla Rising'' (2009) and ''

Apocalypto ''Apocalypto'' () is a 2006 epic historical action-adventure film produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Farhad Safinia. The film features a cast of Indigenous and Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, ...

'' (2006).

Distribution

Originally set for a release at the end of 2018, the film was distributed in Italian cinemas by

beginning on 31 January 2019. The film had grossed 2.1 million euros after the first three weeks of screening. It was released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray Disc by

Well Go USA Entertainment Well Go USA Entertainment is an American independent and international film distributor. It distributes films in a variety of genres, including action films, American indie films, and martial arts films, on all types of platforms, including in ...

on 24 September 2019, with both original audio and an English-dubbed version, while in the United Kingdom by Signature Entertainment on 13 January 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:First King, The: Birth Of An Empire 2019 films Films set in ancient Rome 2010s historical drama films Italian epic films Films shot in Lazio Italian historical drama films Films based on classical mythology Films directed by Matteo Rovere Films produced by Matteo Rovere Films about royalty Films set in the 8th century BC Films about brothers Cultural depictions of Romulus and Remus Latin-language films Groenlandia films