DCGreeks.com
@ The Movies Reviews
300
March 12, 2007
There was a certain lack of familiarity surrounding 300. After Troy and
Alexander in the last three years, it would have been fair to say that Hollywood
had virtually exhausted the Ancient Greek battle epic, particularly with stories
that many in the audience already knew or should have known how they were going
to end. So 300 should have followed this pattern but surprisingly the telling
and more often the showing of the story made this worth making it to the opening
weekend.
Despite the graphic novel treatment of the source material, there were enough
nuances of Spartan culture, warfare, and adherence to the basic history of the
battle of Thermopylae. (It was nice to see that the Arcadians who joined the
Spartans were actually mentioned despite the fact that no Greek soldiers went
into battle with more than a helmet, sword, spear and shield, other body armor
deemed unnecessary by the makers of the film.) This movie manages to humanize,
even glamorize, Spartan cruelty (both towards Persian soldiers, hapless
messengers, and its own people). It’s the contrast between Spartan culture and
the virtually insurmountable Persian Empire that makes the Spartans look noble
by comparison. (The talk of Spartans wishing for a “beautiful death” in
battle almost sounded downright Klingon -- in a good way.) The irony is that the
writers of the movie, in a moment of taking liberties with history, make Spartan
treatment of those less-than-perfect members of its own society the reason for
the ultimate downfall of the 300.
All the talk of the violence and over-the-top blood and gore was overkill as
the stylized slow-motion violence was artistic to the point of not seeming real.
(Contrast this with the realism of the fighting in Troy, and Troy comes out as
the more violent movie.) Thankfully there wasn’t more than just a hint of the
unnecessary adult themes that overshadowed the story in Alexander and threatened
Troy as well. There were some magical elements and unnecessary extras from Frank
Miller’s last blockbuster Sin City, but not enough to take away from the basic
story. And despite the panning of the Greek critics, 300 was not a retelling of
an ancient story to fit the modern predicament of the West’s involvement in
the middle East. (Oliver Stone’s Alexander was definitely about the U.S.’
policy in Iraq and the greater Middle East, while 300 dealt with more universal
themes of heroism in the face of insurmountable odds.)
For the first time in the genre, there is the appearance of a strong woman
character. Leonidas’ wife, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), is the first character
to appear as an almost equal to the men in these movies. Definitely not lacking
the substance of Helen or Hector’s wife in Troy or exuding the maniacal
manipulative nature of Olympias (Angelina Jolie) in Alexander, Headey’s Queen
of the Spartans exhibits savvy, loyalty and a shrewd political mind. The break
in the war action is shots of Sparta back home and the attempts of Gorgo to sway
the council to send reinforcements to the 300.
Missing from 300 though was any overarching feeling leaving the theater that
all the Spartan heroism and sacrifice made much of a difference. The ultimate
climax, the slaughter of the 300 Spartans, seemed all too inevitable,
particularly after the time and effort the movie put into showing their success
against the Persians for the first days of the battle. The movie needed to
reflect on and not just to allude to the real importance of the battle of
Thermopylae. This should have been the true legacy of 300, not only a depiction
of heroism in a moment in time, but what those days meant to not only the
history of Greece, but the history of the Western World.
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