Neither Gladiator nor its cinematic sequel is particularly concerned with historical fact . For one thing, the emperor Marcus Aurelius had no intention of restoring the republic. Gladiatorial contests were abhorrent displays of cruelty, but they didn't always end in death . And the Romans didn't sculpt bone-white statues; they painted them using an array of colors . But I'm most interested in how the two films misrepresent the way Roman gladiators and their bodies were viewed by their republic-