The movie “300” tells the legendary Greek tale of King Leonidas of Sparta who led 300 men against the massed hordes of the Persian Empire in the “Battle of Thermopylae”. It is a film adaptation based on the comic strip created by Frank Miller.
In this epic story, King Leonidas, who was raised to be a warrior king in ancient Spartan tradition, is given a choice by messengers of King Xerxes I of Persia to either surrender his kingdom or face a hopeless battle against the massive armies of Asia. Leonidas refuses Xerxes demands, and instead, disobeys the senate who does not want to go to war and takes 300 of his best men – with some additional troops from Arcadia – to construct a wall at Thermopylae where they intend to hold the Persian advance. Due to the Thermopylae terrain, the Persian armies overwhelming numbers would be nullified.
The Spartans manage to slice, dice, skewer and otherwise inconvenience the Persian army until they are betrayed by a bribed man named Ephialties – who shows the Persians another route they can use to flank the Spartans.
The Spartans eventually fall to the sheer size of Xerxes army but, their deaths encourage the remaining Spartans to continue Leonidas’ unsolicited war to maintain a free Spartan society.
I won’t bother going into detail about the cast and crew, but what I will say is that although 300 could be construed as just another “sword & sandals” flick, there is a lot going on underneath its surface.
First of all, 300 is presented with a relatively original visual style, mostly created through CGI and slo motion video techniques along with specific camera angles, but, what attracted me so much to this film – the thing that has been done so much better than previous films such as “Troy”, “Alexander” and “Gladiator” is that the directors of the film attempt to make each and every scene epic and unforgettable.
Making each scene a work of art involves integrating the fantastic score with very well planned scenes – filled with periodical brutality and gore – along with camera techniques which make the action seem to last longer than it actually has. The first scene of this type has Leonidas (Gerard Butler) rebuking the Persian messengers and kicking them into “the pit of doom” after screaming “this is Sparta!!!”. Classic.
The next scene I liked was the Spartans encounter with the first Persian emissary – who commands them to lay down their weapons. The Spartans respond by hurling a spear into his chest knocking him from his horse.
Another scene I enjoyed involved the Persian Emissary (Tyrone Benskin) getting his arm chopped off as he attempts to whip a Spartan soldier.
There are numerous other epic scenes but I think one of the standouts is the costume work done for the “Immortals vs. Spartans” duel when the Spartans must battle the Persian elite. They look like ninjas and come packing a monstrous goliath (Robert Maillet) who has one of the best battles against Leonidas I’ve ever seen – far surpassing the close quarters combat in “Lord of the Rings”.
And then there is King Xerxes himself, played by Rodrigo Santoro, who was digitally stretched to be an 8 foot tall, androgynous, piercing clad drag queen of sorts. He comes in on a massive golden throne, carried by his slaves, who one by one line up at the foot of his throne to serve as steps for his descent to the ground. A question comes to mind: how did they ship that throne to Thermopylae ?
Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed 300, you don’t have to look hard to see the undertones of the film which have obviously been timed just perfectly to coincide with the American “War on Terror” against Iran, neoconservative theory and George Bush’ unilateral entry into Iraq.
Why is it that every time media tension builds against a country, we suddenly have movies portraying those places we’ll probably never see with our own eyes? In 2002’s “Die Another Day” for example, Bond conveniently ends up a tortured prisoner in North Korea. Problem with Iran? “The Recruit” is released in 2003 just in time for war with Iraq.
King Leonidas’ death obsessed pep talks about “freedom” and his unilateral decision to go to war with the Persians against the best wishes of the Senate should sound familiar to you. Not to mention, his queen’s (Lena Headey) speech about “freedom not being free….” and only secured by eternal vigilance. Those who don't accept the "war for freedom" must be traitors.
More striking is the perception of the ancient Persians. Unlike the film “Kingdom of Heaven”, where the Islamic invaders are human, 300’s Persians are played by anything but Persians. Black men provide the main messengers to the Spartans and King Xerxes is played by a Brazilian actor.
Moreover, the ancient Persians are depicted as being monstrous and grotesque. The dancing women in Xerxes harem are scarred and one of them is missing both arms. The “Immortal” Elite Guards are all trolls with sharpened teeth and horrifying appearances. It basically comes down to a group of White people versus a group of colored people where the colored people are all monsters. Reminds me of “Lord of the Rings”.
It is this depiction that prompted Iranians to decry this movie as an “assault on the historical identity of Iran”. I can’t say that I disagree with them and it probably doesn’t help the movie’s case that recently, Hollywood has turned its attention to Iran and is churning out film after film depicting the Crusades involving Christian against Muslim (which is the same thing controversial about “Kingdom of Heaven”) .
There is a historicaly accurate breakdown named "Last Stand of the 300" - from the history channel - which can be seen on youtube, that pretty much depicts the reality of this content and bothers to explain the naval battles between the Spartans and Persians, as well as the tactics of the Phalanx formation and the benefits of Bronze armor over the Persian's wicker...but, the sad truth is, despite 300's shortcomings in historical accuracy, the movie's cinemaetography is so excellent this happens to be the more interesting depiction to watch.
Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butl...More at HotMovieSale.com
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