Friday, May 18, 2007

300 (2)

As I mentioned earlier, I was really interested in watching 300 to be more accurate in writing about it. Last week, I could do that and here is the summary of what I think about it:

1. From history point of view, the movie is about the battle of Thermopylae on 11 August 480 BC, in which 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas blocked the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece against the massive army of Iranian king Xerxes I. The following picture is today's view of Thermopylae pass in Greece.

After 3 days of resisting, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks and showed the Iranian army a path which led them behind the position of Greek army and it helped them win the battle. To get more information you can refer to the following reference:
J. B. Bury and Russell Meiggs, "A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great", 4th Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, page 271.
2. In this movie to show the extreme power of Iranian army, many strange things are shown (like strange powerful man, different kind of animals attacking to Spartans and ...). However, it is not something bad for Iranian army because it just show that they were really powerful in that time which makes sense.
3. In the movie and during the battle, Iranian army consisting of many ethnicities like black Africans, Chinese, Arabs, ... are just fighting and doing their duties but these are Spartans who behave wildly and unfairly. Some examples of wild behavior of Spartans in the movie are:
i. Killing the babies to improve their race
ii. Hitting the child to train him
iii. Killing the Iranian messenger
iv. Creating a wall using the bodies
v. Throwing spear to Xerxes by Leonidas to kill him while Xerxes never tries to kill Leonidas unfairly during their meetings.
4. In the movie Xerxes is not shown with a weak character or weak body. Even in one of the secans, his grandeur can be seen when he is talking to Leonidas and putting his hands on the Leonidas's shoulder.
Considering these facts, I can't see anything in this movie that tries to tease Iranian ancient empire. Of course, always in all movies there are some exaggerations which make the story attractive but it does not mean that the movie maker tries to humiliate a nation. At least in this case, I did not have such a perception. Finally, I would like to mention the professional computer effects of the movie and also it's nice music.