Zack Snyder likes to pay homage to his favorite films in his works. For “Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scar Maker” he didn’t copy a film, but rather a historical model – for an important death scene.
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Anyone who takes a closer look at Zack Snyder’s work knows only too well that the director also likes to quote. John Boorman’s “Excalibur” is one of his absolute favorite films and is therefore regularly revisited by him, often copying the exact settings. Fans will also find references to other works in “Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scar Maker”. But one scene stands out in which Snyder was inspired by actual history.
In an extensive flashback, Kora (Sofia Boutella) tells farmer Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) how the old king (Cary Elwes), his queen (Rhian Rees) and their daughter Issa (Stella Grace Fitzgerald) died. In the scene we see that the royal family is about to inaugurate a new ship. The name “Peacemaker” speaks for itself. It was supposed to usher in a new era. The mother world should no longer focus on brutal conquest.
Netflix The old king and his family walk towards death in slow motion.
But Balisarius (Fra Fee) doesn’t want to see how the previous war machine is simply dismantled. The royal family is therefore received by him and the senators, who are certainly not coincidentally wearing toga-like robes – and murdered. The conspirators stab the king with knives, while Kora, under pressure from her foster father, shoots the princess.
Balisarius as Brutus in a re-enactment of Caesar’s death
Even if you haven’t seen “Rebel Moon 2” yet, you should have recognized from the description what Zack Snyder is referring to. Because the majority of the scenario is well known from history: senators, led by the ruler’s foster son, murder the ruler with knives – that’s exactly what happened with the ancient Romans
This is how Gaius Julius Caesar died, being stabbed by his foster son Brutus and his senators. Snyder refers to this again by saying that a villain character in his film is called Cassius. Cassius was Brutus’ best friend and brother-in-law and organized the conspiracy with him.
More than just cool: the differences matter
In the interview we asked Zack Snyder why he took on this event. He downplayed a larger meaning: “That the king is murdered by the man he loves, whom he sees as his second son, and then all the other people he knows go along with it, all of them somehow together kill, I thought that was very cool. That’s why we took this on.”
But we think Snyder was about more than just “cool” pictures. Here we are not talking about what significance the scene has for the story. Because of course it primarily explains why Kora is on the run. And here a revelation teasing “Rebel Moon 3” is also briefly hinted at in the final minutes of the film.
What makes the scene particularly interesting: As parallel as the death of the king in Snyder’s sci-fi actioner is to that of Caesar in ancient Rome, the circumstances are completely opposite:
- Caesar swung in February 44 BC. BC became a “dictator for life”. His statements made it clear that he considered the current political system to be a failure. It is often speculated that his next step was to convert Rome into a monarchy and crown himself king. He also wanted to implement his previous campaigns of conquest. The assassination in March 44 BC BC took place directly on the eve of a planned new military campaign. The conspirators stood for freedom and against a tyrant.
- The old king in “Rebel Moon” plans to abdicate. He wants to usher in a new era. He may even consider the time of the monarchy to be over and believes that his daughter can build a new, freer world. He doesn’t want to continue any more campaigns of conquest. The assassination takes place when he wants to replace the warships. The conspirators are led by a man who then becomes a tyrant.
Here, Snyder turns a tyrant’s murder in history into a murder by a tyrant. How exactly he turns the historical circumstances into the opposite for his fictional film clearly shows that he had something in mind and didn’t just “think it was really cool”.