The Arena

Grier and statuesque blonde Margaret Markov (who’d teamed previously in 1972’s Black Mama, White Mama) costar as Mamawe of Nubia and Bodicia, a priestess from Brittany. Both are kidnapped from their homelands by Roman soldiers. They, along with other women, find themselves on the auction block in the slave market of Brundusium. Flamboyantly gay Priscium buys the lot of them for his master, the politically-connected organizer of the local games, Timarchus. The girls are purchased as sex slaves for the entertainment of Timarchus’ powerful friends and as wine servers during the games. Only Bodicia and Mamawe maintain a semblance of dignity under the yoke of servitude, defiant even to Timarchus’ haughty overseer Cornelia. When the gals engage in a food-throwing catfight that demolishes the kitchen, one of Timarchus’ buddies suggests turning them into gladiators for the arena. Keen to keep ticket-buying citizens coming back for more, Timarchus soon has the women training for combat under the tutelage of master gladiator Septimus, a hulking bald fighter who makes the mistake of falling in love with one of his new pupils, Lucinia. The first public contest between the female gladiators is a (supposedly) comical affair, with no one getting injured or killed. But the bloodthirsty crowds are easily bored — the next match will be to the death. The survivors, led by Mamawe and Bodicia, realize that each of them in turn will eventually die on the blood-soaked sand of the arena unless they make a daring break for freedom. —Eccentric-cinema.com