The main theme music ("Now we are free") composed by Hans Zimmer for the academy award winner "Gladiator" (directed by Ridley Scott) is developed throughout the film by being a leitmotif (a recurrent theme associated with a character or idea) to the protagonist (Maximus). The music won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and was nominated for the Academy and Grammy Awards.
The film "Gladiator" draws on certain historical elements (the death of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius in AD 180 and the succession of his son Commodus) and develops a fictional story around the life of General Maximus Decimus, a Spanish farmer, turned into soldier who, having defeated the barbarians in a battle in Germania, is betrayed by Commodus who kills his family and burns his farmland. Maximus becomes a slave, then a gladiator and finally a saviour of Rome.
Ornamented by Lisa Gerrard's atmospheric and ethnic vocals, Zimmer achieves to create music which blends the past and the present. The music achieves its purpose in carrying you back to the Roman times, although it is not considered Ancient Roman music, and at the same time it "feels" like modern, emotional and romantic. The emotional character of the music is there to speak for the main character who loses his family and voice. As Ridley Scott says: "The music puts on a fourth dimension to the movie. The music plays what you can not see".