A Day in Paradise

Short version - Awesome cinematography, interesting action sequences and CGI - the demonization of the Persians and underlying political rhetoric make the movie hard to watch.

spoilers and ranting ahead… click through at your own risk

300 is the story of the battle of thermopylae, or as the Warner Bro’s representative put it “a work of fiction inspired by the Frank Miller graphic novel and loosely based on an historical event”.

I didn’t like the movie at all!

My bias could come from the fact that I recently read the fantastic “Spartan: The Novel” by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. The book was the story of a crippled Spartan baby who was abandoned by the Spartans and found and raised by a Helot goat-herd. As the child grows up he learns to fight and eventually returns to Sparta to fight alongside his twin brother with king Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae. The book was about overcoming weakness, friendship, and loyalty - It well written, and historically accurate.

300 is about war and the glorification of dying in combat. It’s not the war that disturbs me, but the characterization of the players. There was no middle ground, no understanding, no acceptance - everyone in the movie was quite literally with “those who love freedom, or those who hate innocent lives”. Good guys were glorified, bad guys were demonized.

The good guys are:

• white
• beautiful (even the bad Spartans are good looking)
• strong
• logical

The bad guys are:

• Dark skinned
• Ugly - and I’m not just counting the monstors
• Handicapped
• Effeminate
• Mystical (religious?)

I am really surprised this movie got funded.

The Spartans continually talk about being “free men”, and fighting to “protect freedom” while politically Sparta was a Military monarchy which killed their young if they had any physical deformities. The movie made the Spartans out to be nice peace loving people, who wander around their stormy landscapes wearing as little as possible - and just so happen to be the most elite fighting men in the known world.

If I had time, this is where I would start talking about the statement the movie makes in regards to the current political climate in the region, but unfortunately (or fortunately for you, dear reader) I’ve run out of time.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Rants, Movies, War, Novels, Five-Minute-Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.