REVIEW: 300

Frank Miller’s 300 was a comic that did very well, the movie seems to be doing even better. Making nearly 70 million in its first weekend. I liked it, even though I was not a fan of the comic.

It takes a lot of liberties with history and it’s overly simplified, but it is a powerful statement about fighting for what you believe in and maintaining a wall against encroaching enemies, even while the people in your society are riddled with doubters and traitors.

It’s no wonder that the film has divided reviewers even though it is, in many ways, a stunning piece of work. The appeasers and the other eunuchs reveal themselves with comments about how the film would appeal to Nazis, and how the message is we should never shoot the messenger. Apparently, they think the Spartans should have bowed down to Xerxes, rather than offends some multiculturalist god-king.

But if it hadn’t been for the Spartan’s sacrifice in history, it’s doubtful Democracy would have survived. It was still a fledgling concept, born in Greece. It would have been stamped out by the Persians and Greek History would have been rewritten by them. Just as it would be the death of the progressive west to allow barbarians from the East subsume our culture and impose their 10th century ideology on all of us. But just as in the movie, we have our own politicians and appeasers who think we shouldn’t put up a fight.

The film is like a video game with great graphics. Lots of iconic imagery and a very simple storyline. It’s loosely based on real events, but many elements are left out or made up. For example, the real Greeks sent their navy to harry the ships of Xerxes and, even though they were outnumbered, did a lot of damage. This blocked them from going around the “Hot Gates” where the Spartans were fending off Persia’s armies. It also ignores the fact that the Spartans brought thousands of slaves with them as support staff, or that the Spartan society was based on pederasty. Young boys were given an older male mentor who was both their lover and teacher. This is the kind of stuff that would make movie audiences squeamish, but in a pre-Christian civilization, it was no big deal. They didn’t have our culture, and in many ways, their society was a success until they became corrupt with too much wealth and prosperity.

The film makes it seem like Xerxes army shows up the day after Leonidas kills his messenger. But the truth is, he had to march is army all the way from Modern Iran. And he had to build a massive pontoon bridge to cross the straights to reach Greece. That took many months. There was a lot more politics going on on the Greek side. But you get the idea.

The message of 300 is “live free or die.” And it obviously has a lot of resonance, or people wouldn’t be flocking to see it. We’re constantly inundated by doubters and naysayers in the press or in Washington, questioning everything we do as a society. This film shows them to be corrupt traitors, for surely we have a right to defend our civilization.

Of course, in the west we have the huge army, not the other guys. But like the Spartans, we have weak-willed politicians trying to hold us back. History has shown what the Spartans accomplished.

We’ll see how we do in the coming years.

UPDATE: Military historian Victor Davis Hanson liked it

James,
Thanx for that thumbnail & brief history. I know nothing about it (thanx to our wonderful public education system). The movie looks spectacular, very cool. I wanna see it!

Posted by  on  03/13  at  02:16 AM

The battle of Thermopalye was one of the most critical battles in history, especially in Western Civilization. I don’t think they taught it in school when I was a kid, either. But it should be taught for a number of reasons, including that it truly defended Democracy probably more than any other battle.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  03/13  at  08:30 AM
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