The Gladiators

Although this film's title suggests that it's about the gladiators of ancient Rome, it is actually a very modern film about war, and is an antecedent of The Hunger Games. Directed by Peter Watkins, it was filmed in Sweden but has an international flavor, as actors of many nations take part.

In order to prevent World War III, the United Nations has set up what they called the "International Peace Games," which has two teams of young soldiers, one from the West and one from the East (which basically constitutes the Chinese--I didn't see any hints of Russian soldiers). The West contains some Germans, Swedes, Englishmen and Americans, including an African American. The generals of the various countries sit and watch the proceedings, as does the entire world on television.

The object of the game isn't to kill everyone, it's basically capture the flag, but with live ammo. We only see the byplay among the Western team, which includes some racism against the black man, and some nasty comments by Vietnamese (presumably South Vietnamese). A joker in the deck is a French student/activist who goes his own way, trying to get into the control room to destroy the system.

The generals call out commands to a Swedish captain (Hans Bendrik) who mans the controls of "the machine," which coordinates events. It is interesting to see 1969's version of high-tech computers, full of colored buttons that say things like "Snow" on them. Even in 1969, when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were still prepubescent, the concept of all-knowing computers (like HAL 9000) was alive and persistent.

When an English soldier and a Chinese female prisoner converse, the generals declare "Collaboration," which is a no-no, and the machine takes over. The French student makes it into the control room, declaring himself the winner, but Bendrik calmly tells him that the French student's system will be no different than the old system, a kind of forerunner to Pete Townshend's "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

The Gladiators is very much of its time. At one point the Western team is distracted by girls in bikinis, as if they were the Sirens of The Odyssey. The whole thing is distinctly low-budget--we don't get the sense of a worldwide TV audience, that is only told to us--and the puffed up generals watching in their military regalia almost seems like a Monty Python sketch. I would imagine, though, that the message was much sharper than today, when much of the world understands the foolishness and futility of war and violence, even if it continues unabated.