Gladiator

I decided to dust off my DVD of 'Gladiator' before giving it to the library. Going to the deleted scenes, I saw Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi and others talk about the games at the Colliseum. The contests go on for months on end and cost a fortune, but no new taxes are being levied. Where is the money coming from? Then someone admits that the Emperor is selling Rome's grain reserves, and it dawns on the Emperor's sister what that means: "the future". The scene reminded me of a GQ article I read about how Ridley Scott has been good at predicting trands in popular culture. Specifically, how the "If you're not with us you're against us" certitude of 'Gladiator' seems like a foretelling of the Bush administration. I felt like I was looking at another omen right here - W's economic policy of "Enjoy your tax cuts while you can".