1. If you’re looking for History, you’re not going to find it there. This is the cinematographic adaptation of a graphic novel, i.e., historical fiction. Only the main events are accurate: the invasion of the Persians and the last stand of Leonidas and his 300 men. The rest is fantasy, as graphic as his author’s vision. A very puritan vision, indeed! The evil is clearly seen on the bodies: ugliness, disease, deformity, aberration and mutilation. Xerxes is the king of piercings, his Court as disgusting as can be imagined. No Persian king would have looked like that for sure, perhaps not even his chief eunuch. On the other side, the Spartan Ephors are old monks full of leprosy and lechery (poor magistrates!). Needless to say, the Spartans, like the rest of the Greeks, obeyed the oracle of Delphi and didn’t have private oracles (pretty ones or not). In the film, there are too many visual and narrative set pieces reminding us of The Lord of the Rings, the most obvious one being the Gollum-like traitor Ephialtes.
On the good side, everything is simple and clean, even the women don’t wear makeup or real jewels (in part it was true, for gold was forbidden in Sparta; to avoid corruption, the currency was iron); the warriors don’t wear breastplates, so we can see their perfect muscles and proud scars of war; their red capes are so long it would have been impossible to walk with them without stumbling; in spite, they fight with them. It’s aesthetical!
Other elements were blatantly modified to convey the vision of the author, like those concerning sex (the Spartans didn’t have the concept of adultery and were as bisexual as the rest of the Greeks and other ancient peoples); and the most important of them all: religion (the Persians were monotheists and their king was certainly no god king. Zoroastrianism is the oldest monotheism and it stands on the basis of Abrahamic religions). The mystical tyranny the author hates doesn’t include monotheism, it seems; however, monotheism accepts everyone who submits to it, or subdues everyone who doesn’t accept it, just like his Xerxes.
One of the facts that structured Greek freedom was the freedom to choose and worship their gods, that was forbidden by the Persians in the reign of Cambyses II (half century before the battle of Thermopylae); thus, the destruction of the temples and the repression imposed by Xerxes on them, and by his descendants on the Greek colonies of Asia Minor. The main problem between Greeks and Persians was a religious one, for the freedom of the polis was connected to polytheism, a perspective the author doesn’t appreciate. Maybe that is why the destruction of Athens is totally ignored. Albeit, it was this fact that sent Alexander on a war of revenge against the Persians 150 years later.
Leonidas and Gorgo
2. So, what’s there to like in this film? Many critics stated it’s nothing more than a computer game for teenagers. In its simplicity, it can be considered as such; after all, who are the target readers of graphic novels? I would be pretty satisfied if the teenagers learned from it what is the courage of a defeat foretold.
This movie is about memory, the myth and legend of a past long gone and almost forgotten. Its colours, shadowy grays and browns in contrast with the reds of blood and courage, almost perfect; its battle rhythm and music, accordingly. It’s the dance of a man facing his destiny, a lion king who doesn’t surrender. And it’s a romantic film, not what is called a ‘chick flick’, more ‘the chick I am kind of flick’. Surely it is full of Hollywood clichés, but the fact that love makes men stronger is the most important message for me, and it is there. Leonidas embraces death with a smile, thinking of the woman he loves. He dies a happy man. What more can anyone ask from life?
Also there’s queen Gorgo, a good representative of Spartan women, the most independent of all Greece. She’s there to tell her Leonidas to act as the free man he is; but also to confirm that by not having a penis, the only way a woman can fuck men is with a sword. Nearly always, this happens metaphorically; with her, it happens literally. I liked it.
And there’s the angelic beauty and display of Stelios, who’s got for himself the best line of the story: Our arrows will block out the Sun, threatens the Persian Ambassador. Then we’ll fight in the shade, replies Stelios, with a voice full of eroticism.
Last, but not the least, there’s Xerxes command to the cripple: Leonidas told you to stand; I only tell you to kneel. That was the difference between Greeks and Persians, the West and the East, polytheism and monotheism, individual and multitude, citizen and slave. But that was long ago, when the world was young.
This movie is about memory, the myth and legend of a past long gone and almost forgotten. Its colours, shadowy grays and browns in contrast with the reds of blood and courage, almost perfect; its battle rhythm and music, accordingly. It’s the dance of a man facing his destiny, a lion king who doesn’t surrender. And it’s a romantic film, not what is called a ‘chick flick’, more ‘the chick I am kind of flick’. Surely it is full of Hollywood clichés, but the fact that love makes men stronger is the most important message for me, and it is there. Leonidas embraces death with a smile, thinking of the woman he loves. He dies a happy man. What more can anyone ask from life?
Also there’s queen Gorgo, a good representative of Spartan women, the most independent of all Greece. She’s there to tell her Leonidas to act as the free man he is; but also to confirm that by not having a penis, the only way a woman can fuck men is with a sword. Nearly always, this happens metaphorically; with her, it happens literally. I liked it.
And there’s the angelic beauty and display of Stelios, who’s got for himself the best line of the story: Our arrows will block out the Sun, threatens the Persian Ambassador. Then we’ll fight in the shade, replies Stelios, with a voice full of eroticism.
Last, but not the least, there’s Xerxes command to the cripple: Leonidas told you to stand; I only tell you to kneel. That was the difference between Greeks and Persians, the West and the East, polytheism and monotheism, individual and multitude, citizen and slave. But that was long ago, when the world was young.
Alexander, the Great, Hegemon of Greece
3. The Spartans were the eccentrics of Greece: everything was oral for them, they had no literature and no written laws; yet, they talked as little as possible (the term 'laconic' derives from Laconia, the region they lived in); they had two kings ruling at the same time; they had no appreciation for the arts; but they were not the only ones to select the healthy babies to be citizens (the others died or survived as slaves); also it’s good to remember they were never an Empire, while the Athenians were one (in fact, it was Athens expansion that started the Peloponnesian Wars); and certainly they weren't the only militaristic State around. While the Spartans were ruled by an oligarchy, the Macedonians, who were Dorians too, were ruled by the army (the king was the elected commander). Alexander was subjected to an education very similar to that of the Spartans, that made him a warrior, only it also had an Athenian component, that made him a politician and a lover of the arts. That made all the difference.
The main problem was that Sparta was a closed society, very conservative and against change. When Alexander’s father conquered all Greece, the Spartans were not touched. They kept themselves out of the Hellenic League and refused to participate in the campaign against the Persians. The justification was that they would never be in a war without leading it. The Macedonians were not looking for trouble and accepted their decision, after they pledged they would not attack them. But they had the obligation of waging war, so they incited a revolt while Alexander was in Asia. They had it coming: it was the beginning of the end for Sparta. Alexander was prepared for that, and his regent in Greece defeated the Spartans and their allies. During Macedonian rule, Sparta was a pale shadow of its former self, until the Romans arrived and all was over for the entire Greece.
The suicidal rage of Leonidas and his 300 warriors turned out to be the most important fact Sparta was remembered by through the ages. Notwithstanding, Alexander had the final word on that too. He was the Hegemon, the Supreme Commander of all Greece, including Sparta, even if the Spartans didn’t acknowledge it. His objective was to find compensation for all that the Persians had taken away from the Greeks. After the first battle in Asia, he sent to the Parthenon an offering of the spoils, with the dedication: From Alexander and the Greeks, except the Spartans. It was no surprise it consisted of 300 Persian armours.
