300

This weekend I saw the movie 300. I went in with a certain sense of doubt as I read some of the critics’ reviews. Accusations of violent monotony or burdensome subplots kept haunting my mind up until the opening credits of the movie.

As for the movie itself, I am an avid fan of classical history. I can’t tell you how many courses I’ve taken on the subject, texts I’ve read, papers I’ve written, and fun I’ve had dreaming of those days. Entering this flick I had the historical background of what actually happened to compare with how the movie played out the event cinematically. I won’t lie; a certain part of me was slightly irritated at the historical changes made by the director in order to heighten the story. The need to portray the two sides in extremes, “evil” as so venal it is demonic and twisted in form and “good” as virile to the point of living gods, had me cringing. The movie did its best to portray Xerxes as a living Devil whose temptations were meant to contaminate the beauty of these free Greeks with offers of sinful pleasures and power, the King of Kings himself wrapped in gold. I found humor in the fictional King Leonidas continually speaking of fighting for freedom when in fact the Spartans had slaves of their own. Likewise, the repeated hammering home of the idea that religion and superstition only hold back people, when in fact the ancient Greeks believed in signs and the real Leonidas actually sacrificed himself because he believed in the legend that Sparta would one day face annihilation and only the death of a King could save it. The movie also holds to the view that only the Spartans stayed behind and died once the Persians flanked them when in actuality over 700 Greeks decided to remain and battle alongside their Greek brethren to the bitter end.

Don’t get me wrong. This movie is a cinematic masterpiece of visuals. It is a living work of art. I admire what Snyder has accomplished and can’t help but have dreams of where movies are headed in the future. Despite many of the liberties taken, this movie is highly watchable. Yes, I knew some of the clichés that would be used including the betrayal of the Queen despite the price she paid to speak to the elders. But there is something enchanting about this movie. It is a living, breathing Greek myth. It has taken an historical event and transformed it into a world of demigods and demons fighting for the soul of humanity. It has taken the two ideals of this world, tyranny and democracy, and placed them at odds showing the destined corruption of absolute power versus a democratic freedom that is constantly threatened by the same fate and which can only survive by the sacrifices made of great men willing to allow the choice of salvation or damnation for its citizens.

So do I like this movie? I love it. Despite some of the cringe worthy writing, which I attribute to Miller who is an awful writer despite the praise that is constantly heaped on him (see Robocop II and III along with the sequel to the Dark Knight Returns to see how bad this guy really is), this movie brought back the child in me who was thrilled by the ancient tales of Heracles, Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, and Odysseus. This is myth granted the breath of Life by the gods of Hollywood. This is what movies were meant to be, entertaining and daring with epic scale. This is a symbol of the battle that occurs within men’s souls as well as upon the current globe. It is darkness and light, each attempting to defeat the other. This is apocryphal. This…is 300.