300

It would be easy to completely brush aside with snide remarks the film 300, which is packing them into the multiplexes these past few weeks. But I want to judge the film for what it is, not what it could have been. Based on a historical event, the battle of Thermopylae, 300 is no history lesson. The word Thermopylae is never spoken (it is referred to as its English translation, "The Hot Gates.") There are no title cards at the beginning or end to put the events in a historical perspective. The film is simply a war film, overflowing with testosterone and comic-book fantasy. And, as such, it works.

For those interested in history, in 480 B.C. the Persian empire under King Xerxes was looking to take over Greece, which consisted of city-states. One of those states was Sparta, which was basically a war cult. Boys were bred for their abilities as warriors, as puny babies were disposed of. The Spartan King, Leonidas, didn't take kindly to a Persian emissary sent to ask his submission, and the emissary is booted to the bottom of a very deep well. Leonidas wants to go to war, but some corrupt priests consult an oracle and tell him to wait. He thumbs his nose at them and takes 300 of his best men to team up with other Greeks to hold the Persians off.

This film is being talked about for a number of reasons. First of all, there's the look of the film. Filmed in front of a green-screen, director Zack Snyder has sought to reproduce the source material, a graphic novel by Frank Miller. He has succeeded, but at what cost? This is a good story--Herodotus knew that thousands of years ago. Snyder instead tosses meat to the fan-boys, and doesn't worry about character or subtlety or military strategy or geopolitics. He is only concerned with how cool everything looks. Yes, it looks cool, but after a while you may be yawning. Even beheadings can start to look all the same.

Then there's the political angle. Iranians are protesting this film, because it puts Persians in a bad light. Well, they were trying to conquer another country, and I don't think many of the audience for this film even knows Iran is part of Persia. I found it slightly distasteful that the Spartans all have a distinctly Anglo-Saxon appearance while the Persians are, of course, "ethnics", but I suppose this was inevitable. The Spartans are the heroes of this piece, even though they were a bellicose cult. They keep talking about freedom, but how free was a society that had no literature, no law, and tossed babies to their dooms because they weren't up to snuff?

There are parts of this film that I liked. The screenplay has some nice bits of mordant humor. The makeup and visual effects are award-worthy. I would have liked more insight into the history of the thing, but I'm a pencil-necked geek the Spartans would have killed immediately.