From the late sixties till very recently, film producers had a very pro-Atheist agenda, and contrived most stories to fit into that narrow spectrum. This is one such example.The story is fairly well known. A Jimmy Jones style mass suicide of maniacs, the leaders of whom had as little to do with Jewish religion as today's suicide bombers have to do with the mosques they would only attend for rare occasions to persuade others to join their cause. It is where we get the word "zealots", which has come to connote more religious groups.The film does make it clear, however, that the leading zealots were not religious, and had issues with the spiritual ones who joined them.The leader of the group, played by Strauss, is a maniac from beginning to end. We are given enough of his personality to see why feeble minds would believe him, and we can interpret his nature pretty accurately. It boggles the mind as to how the Roman commander is fooled by him. He clearly uses his family man position to further his lust for power and blood. He is a true rendition of a homicidal maniac. The film tries to make it look as though he may have turned into a maniac when he got religion, but in real life, he is truly just a monster who only uses religion for his blood-lust. He has no real faith. One scene shows him supposedly crying for the innocent, and praying, but in real life, this would be completely for show, and would never fool a true Roman military mind.The Roman commander seems to be the sanest, and thus is viewed as an Atheist. His barbaric acts are done unwillingly. This fits in with the true Hollywood agenda of making people believe no one is ever killed by Atheism, which makes the film laughably ridiculous.However, the performances are great. Most of the minor characters are very good. The Jewish mistress is very believable.The fight scenes with Struass look poorly done, but not as poor as later movies in which we are expected to believe men loaded with full armor can move like acrobats, and no one ever has the Sun in his eyes.The contrived point of view cheapens what could have been a great movie.

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!! The Masada story is interesting only as far as so many cultures, societies, religious groups, etc. have all had some sort of similar experience, especially under the yoke of the Roman Empire.The bizarre thing about the uprising surrounding Masada was the simple numbers involved. How the Zealots thought they could defeat the most powerful military in the civilized world is unclear.While no group was thrilled with Pax Romana, at the very least, the Jews had a great deal of control over their internal affairs including their religious matters. In fact, Judiasm was a protected religion in the Roman Empire. This was in great contrast to Christians who were persecuted throughout the empire, were not a protected religion, and blamed by authorities for all sorts of things. Sadly, because Christianity was considered a cult of Judiasm, the Jewish authorities gave orders to all Synagoges around the empire to support the local Roman authorities to help hunt down and slaughter every Christian that could be found.When the Romans were not actively persecuting Christians, the Jewish authorities still gave the order to kill as many Christians as possible.So, what the heck does this extra info have to do with Masada? Only that you can't feel a lot of sympathy for the Zealots. Here they had a relatively semi-autonomous existence, working with the Romans to eliminate "enemies of the state" by finding and killing Christians, and running the govt. without much interference from the Romans. Then, the Jews decide to break their agreement with the Roman authorities, slaughter the garrison, fight a protracted war where innocent civilians are killed by both sides, and at the end of the Masada battle, everyone commits suicide.The Romans destroy Jerusalem, including Solomon's Temple, and the population is sold off into slavery. Not a very well-crafted strategy by the Zealots. Actually, just plain stupid and the more you think about the innocent loss of life, the more you think that not only was the mini-series bad but the very premise of the story was idiotic.I remember seeing this mini-series when it came out on TV and it was bad back then and it's still bad after all these years.

"Masada" is a great epic that goes far beyond the trite boundaries of this kind of films, in that it deals with key moral issues brought forth to the mind by the experience of warfare in a very reflective and convincing way. It gives insight to the inner struggle of a Roman general in his quest for confronting and eventually understanding the contradictions that lie beneath the logic of man's constant fight for power and control, and how it slowly rots his spiritual capacity. For instance, he asks himself: Who is really the winner? Who the loser? How do you kill faith? ... The final 10 minute-plus-monologue of the brilliant O'Toole maybe well be one of the finest moments in the history of film! Simply breathtaking! Check it out!

This story brings out the idealist and the need for faith in me whenever I view it. The historical accuracy and the sheer information provided about the Roman Empire, the province of Judea circa 70AD, and the Roman Legions, are truly astonishing. Every semester, whenever I teach World Civilizations I at Essex County College in Newark NJ, I always include a classroom viewing of the 2 hour version for my students (and lament not time enough to show the full saga). Peter O'Toole's performance as the competant but troubled Flavius Silva I humbly believe is his masterwork and the life he places in his character is thought provoking and emotionally stirring. The music, the material, the true story and the detail from building the ramp to the costumes and location re-create what actually happened better than any textbook or lecture could. By the way, Barbara Cararra almost steals the show from Peter O'Toole and her acting performance also deserves special mention. I proudly own the full saga on VHS and eagerly await the DVD edition. This is a must-see for anyone interested in Roman, Israeli, or general history.