Movie Review: 300
I saw 300 when it was in theaters, but I’ve held off on a review until now. I’ve actually been unsure exactly what I think about it. On the one hand, it’s a solid action movie and a stirring epic. The visuals are amazing, the cinematography is brilliant, and for a movie that had all of its backgrounds added via computer, it works in a way I never expected possible.
It’s a story that has become, in essence, as much of an epic tale of heroism as the Illiad. The premise is straight out of Herodotus (often called the father of history, at least in the western world): the Persian army, numbering between 300,00 and 2,000,000 men, under the command of King Xerxes, has come to crush the city-states of Greece. A small group of 300 Spartan warriors decides to hold them at the pass of Thermopylae, where their numerical disadvantage will not be so great. It’s a great story at its heart, and there’s much that the movie gets right. It even includes some famous lines of dialogue from Herodotus, and doesn’t entirely gloss over the 700 Acadians who died with the Spartans.
And yet, as much as the movie is faithful to the story to a degree, it is nevertheless filtered through the lens of Frank Miller. The film is based on Miller’s graphic novel by the same name, and thus there are certain issues of historical inaccuracy that come along with it. For one, the film’s spartans wear no armor, instead opting for anachronistic speedo-type shorts. There are gigantic monster/mutant people in the Persian army. Most of these changes are to lend the tale a more heroic edge. There are also justifiable accusations of racism inherent to the portrayal of the factions in the movie: the Spartans are all white and incredibly manly, while the Persians are dark-skinned, deformed, and effeminate. Even Xerxes, towering over the Spartan King Leonidas, is feminized. I’m no scholar in such matters, but I can see a valid argument being made for racism and sexism in the film.
300 is a really entertaining movie, I’ll give you that. You’re not going to learn a huge deal about the real story behind the battle of Thermopylae, but you’ll get the gist. Set aside all the inaccuracies and the accusations of racism, and you’ve got an enjoyable movie. The History Channel has a nice special on Thermopylae that gives some actual historical context to the battle, if you’re interested in the reality behind the fanciful picture.
300 (2007), starring Gerard Butler. Directed by Zack Snyder. Available on DVD now. Amazon link.
August 10th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Not to mention that it was at least a thousand soldiers, not merely three hundred.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Jacob,
Yes, it’s true that there were over a thousand Greeks at Thermopylae. The original force was even larger, over 5,000 Greeks (according to Wikipedia). The 300 Spartans who stayed after Xerxes found the goat path and the Greek army retreated were only part of the forces left behind, which included a whole bunch of Spartan serfs and some other Greeks. Thus, it wasn’t only 300 Spartans who died there, but almost 2,000 Greeks total.
On the other hand, I can’t really fault the filmmakers or Frank Miller for leaving them out. The battle helped rally the Greek City-States, and the legend among the Greeks very quickly became one of “300 Spartans.” After all, it’s much more impressive to think that only 300 men could hold an army as large as Xerxes’ at bay. In this sense, the glorification of the Spartan sacrifice is very much in tune with the mythology the battle bred.