This movie takes place in the days of ancient Rome with people from various places outside of the empire being taken captive by the Romans and sold into slavery. One particular place they are taken is the city of Brundusium where the local coliseum is filled to capacity in anticipation of the gladiatorial games they take place on a regular basis. Although not initially intended for this barbaric sport, several female slaves are forced to participate due in large part to the insatiable blood lust of the restless crowd. Of these female slaves there are three main figures with different viewpoints. The first, named "Bodicia" (Margaret Markov) wants all of the females to band together and resist providing entertainment to the crowd. The second, "Mamawi" (Pam Grier) doesn't want to fight but is willing to kill in order to stay alive. The third, "Livia" (Marie Louise) is a Roman citizen and actually approves of the sport but would rather watch it from a distance. In any case, all of them are essentially powerless but none of them consider that fact to be a permanent condition. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a basic women-in-prison film which consisted of the typical elements of that specific sub-genre but was transposed to an ancient Roman setting. Both Pam Grier and Margaret Markov put in solid performances with Marie Louise being the most attractive while the character of "Deidre" (Lucretia Love) was the most annoying. At least in my opinion. Be that as it may, I found this to be an okay film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
