The Eagle (2011) on Netflix
PG-1320111h 54mActionAdventureDrama
Roman officer Marcus Aquila takes a garrison post in Britain to restore his family's name after the Ninth Legion vanishes. With slave Esca, he seeks the legion's eagle north of Hadrian's Wall.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.2/1078,206 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes39%
Trailer
Plot summary
Twenty years after the Ninth Legion disappears in northern Britain, young centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila arrives in 140 AD to take his first post as a garrison commander. His father led the Ninth and vanished with its eagle standard, and Marcus wants to restore his family's name by serving there. Celtic tribesmen attack; Marcus's alertness saves the garrison, but a severe leg wound ends his military career. At his uncle's estate near Calleva, he learns that the lost eagle may be in the north. Though Romans believe no one can survive beyond Hadrian's Wall, he sets out into Pict territory with only his slave Esca, a Brigantes chieftain's son who detests Rome but considers himself bound to Marcus after Marcus saved his life.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Eagle (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- With only about 60,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland to draw from, several boys failed auditions for a Seal People child role until director Kevin Macdonald held open casting in Glasgow and gave the part to nine-year-old Thomas Henry, a boy from Belfast educated in Irish Gaelic.
- Director Kevin Macdonald deliberately reversed the usual casting convention, having American actors play the Romans and British actors play their tribal enemies, intending it as a subtle nod to the Iraq War.
- The Eagle is built around a genuine historical mystery: the disappearance of the Ninth Spanish Legion in northern Britain, which historians still debate actually happened as described.
