300
Of all the military campaigns in history, none may be more extraordinary than in 480 BC, when a small Spartan army of approximately 300 stood alone to defend their land against the massive invading forces of The Persians, eventually going down in battle but not before slaughtering untold thousands of The Persian ranks, decimating both them and their morale so badly that when full Greek forces were compelled to march in their honor (including 10,000 more Spartans), The Persians were utterly destroyed so thoroughly that they fled like scalded dogs while their empire crumbled. This led to the publication of a comic book graphic novel by Frank Miller that in turn led to this 2006 film adaptation directed by Zack Snyder, in many ways a gloriously grim love song to the art of combat while in other ways a celebration of selfless heroism. The early moments of the film give us a pretty good view of general Spartan culture with the presumption easily being made that they are savages in their own right: Only healthy, fully formed male babies are allowed to live with the rest being thrown straight into the scrap heap before they are harshly taught from birth the nature of combat and warfare with the only valuable skill that they are encouraged to master is that of killing. It isnât long before we meet King Leonidas in all his glory as played by Gerald Butler. Butler himself of course is part of the ânew waveâ of truly masculine Hollywood leading men who were brought up in more rugged foreign countries like Australia, New Zealand, England and (in his case) Scotland due to the reportedly disturbing trend that Hollywood is unable to find any masculine leading men in America itself due to the alarmingly large numbers of pretty boys and effeminate types that crowd our shores. But maybe thatâs a good thing as Butlerâs Leonidas is a hardcore brute who doesnât exactly have a heart of gold but rather a willingness to fight and die with little to no hesitation to defend his homeland and his kingdom with his Queen (Lena Headey) at his side. One day a Persian messenger comes calling with a request from his so called âGodKingâ Xerxes (back in that day and age when it was common for emperors and rulers to proclaim themselves to be of godlike stature until they died) with that request simply being for The Spartans to yield and acknowledge Xerxes as their God and King. One can already tell that this meeting will not end well as The Persian messenger immediately displays a high level of arrogance and condescension towards his hosts while Leonidasâ own contempt and disrespect for him is evident right off the bat. Soon the messenger and his other stooges are thrown into a bottomless pit (the filmâs most famous scene) and Leonidas tells his troops to prepare to fight. Unfortunately, there are other ruling bodies in Sparta, including a special âcouncilâ who claim to be mystics and spend most of their time drooling over a beautiful but obviously drugged young girl whom they regard as their âoracleâ along with your typical, run of the mill corrupt Senate, all of whom oppose Leonidas going to war with The Persians as well. This leads to Leonidas gathering up his most loyal 300 men (possibly the maximum legal amount that he can take out on any mission he so chooses) and marching right to where the invading hordes are gathering, an impossible task it would seem, but once the battles begin, the slaughtering of The Persians takes on its own bloody, gory form, much to the chagrin of Xerxes himself (Rodrigo Santoro), a freakishly slender pretty boy with multiple piercings and a mechanically enhanced voice. When permitted to have a face to face with Leonidas, Xerxes confronts him with flattery and untold offers of newfound power if only he would kneel at his feet, but Leonidas stands firm on his mocking disdain for this character and even questions the very manhood of his soldiers. While the story is literally little more than a tale of Army A fighting back Army B, it is in Butlerâs portrayal of the consummate warrior and the interactions amongst his men (which include Michael Fassbender and David Wenham) which provide the main meat and gristle for viewers to enjoy. There is some clashing of swords back at home, as Headeyâs Queen finds herself at odds with a powerful Senator (Dominic West) over her wishes to send additional troops out to join the others with many considering Leonidasâ quest to be nothing more than just an excuse to satisfy his own warmonger tendencies (an idea that at the time inspired many to draw parallels to the W. Bush administration) against an invading force that can be reasonably negotiated with. Indeed, a strong argument can be made that Leonidasâ he-man sensibilities to the idea of ever conceding to another ruler may have led to his overreaction which in turn would lead to âneedlessâ war but at the same time, the overriding instinct that Xerxes and his people may be messing around with some sort of oblique mysticism themselves (and the sight of Xerxes having some sort of harem party filled with a bunch of obvious transvestite âgirlsâ) leads one to believe that you just canât force a group of people to trade in their own values (as traditional as they might be) so that they may âjoin the partyâ even though that party (and the rules that it plays by) might not be something that they actually want any real part of and from that perspective, we can see why Leonidas and his men believe so strongly in what theyâre fighting for: the right to believe in what you want to even if to much of the so called ânew worldâ it might seem a bit too stodgy and traditional (with the references to all of them being âfree menâ fighting for âfreedomâ being abundant throughout). Nowhere is this more evident than in the tragic subplot of a hunchback (Andrew Tiernan) who was born a Spartan but because of his deformity had his parents flee with him before he too was smashed on the rocks as a baby. Now approaching Leonidas (with his fatherâs cloak and shield), he begs to be allowed to fight in order to regain his honor only for Leonidas to tell him that physically he can do him no good as a soldier but heâs more than welcome to help bring his men water and other supplies when not in battle, a revelation which the hunchback doesnât take too well (despite the fact that Leonidas tells him this sadly and graciously). A few scenes later, the hunchback is now seen in the loving arms of Xerxes, who gently tells the poor freakish creature about just how special and wonderful that he is and promises him all of the earthly pleasures that he desires (including possibly the services of the trannies) if only he would betray the location of Leonidas and his men, an offer that is clearly just a case of the poor, misshapen bastard being used and told what he wants to hear, but also one that from some perspectives, might make him feel as if he is in an environment and around people where he is âacceptedâ and indeed, maybe thinking that he could actually march into combat alongside a bunch of alpha males was perhaps not the best idea. The most interesting (and maybe the most disturbing) thing about the Spartan way of thinking is that of them having the attitude that dying in battle is not only something to be considered âgloriousâ, but is actually DESIRED, with one major character going so far as to drag his own son into battle amongst the 300, only to become stricken with anger and grief when that same son dies in combat (as they were all expected to sooner or later) with no expounding on his part about the glory and honor of it all but rather of the now renewed bloodlust in his own heart. But with all that being said, the battle scenes are still spectacular, with Xerxes bringing out a calvacade of challenges for the Spartan men to face (some more effective than others) with the highlight being a one on one between Leonidas and a giant whom they keep on a chain before unleashing him into battle. In the end, we do wind up getting a nice mixture of intense warfare scenes and some philosophical thoughts about the politics and morality of war, coupled against a bizarre filming style that seems to make much of the film look like a comic book but nevertheless still presents us with both the brutality of war and the at times equally brutal mindsets of a number of the men who fight in itâŚ
8/10