300

Right, this is a review about which I can be pretty loose since it’s not for the school paper and, therefore, not influenced by the opinions of anyone but me. Not that I don’t trust my editors, they’re grand, but with a movie like “300” my opinions are a little more harsh and perhaps intolerable of whiners and losers who complain against stuff like honor and glory when it gets in the way of living comfortably.
I’m forever giving out top marks to movies and indeed they begin to lose their value when they follow in such quick succession. With “300” it’s hard not to wax eloquent/obsessive because the visuals alone warrant high praise. As it is, this one earns its grade through much more than just its visual presentation. This is one of the most old fashioned movies I’ve seen in a long time and I am frankly shocked that it grossed so highly over the weekend in a country that whines about the far off “immoral” war. The thing is that in “300” the politicians who sit back and take freedom for granted and trash talk the heroes who die for their country; those politicians are the ones we dislike.
Not since Homer’s bold epics have we got such an idea of what it meant for these men to die in battle for honor and eternal glory. “Troy” was a failed attempt to convey that ancient system of thought, and to put “Alexander” even remotely close to a comparison to this landmark epic would be a gross insult. Personally I think this movie gets the idea across because of the stylized look of it all. We can, as if through their eyes, see the glory of the battle that they are fighting.
“300” has a lot in common with the last “Frank Miller” adaptation, that being “Sin City.” Both feature strong manly men, as well as pathetic, weak, and vile males. Both also feature strong women who are willing to fight for themselves. This is not to say they are independent; the men and woman (as men and women ought to) rely on each other because despite what the neo-feminists say, the two genders were created (nobody faint please) in perfect complementation to each other. The men in both “300” and “Sin City” fight to protect the women because they are both gentlemen and warriors. The women in both “300” and “Sin City” fight alongside the men, and give them the strength and courage to keep fighting. Neither gender is weak, but each depends upon the other. It’s a brilliant sort of relationship and because so few movies manage to get it right it is very impressive to behold. “Come home with your shield, or on it” tells Queen Gorgo to her departing Husband. The men aren’t the only ones making sacrifices in war.
I realize that I probably sound like a total chauvinist typing this all; I’m not trying to offend anyone, which is more than I can say for the movie. It seems determined to be un-P.C. For this I absolutely love it. It’s a little thing called “uncompromising vision” that is crucial to stories of this kind. Frank Miller had it when he penned the Sin City and 300 graphic novels. Robert Rodriguez had it when he filmed the picture perfect “Sin City” and Zach Snyder has it now at the helm of “300.”
One difference between the two stories and, coincidentally, relating to gender in each story, is the type of physique on display. In “Sin City” it was the stone cold foxes of Old Town, in other words the prostitutes, who wore little clothing and paraded around as deadly eye candy. In “300,” though there is one rather creepy young girl who throws her self around as an oracle, clothed mostly in white swirls of filmy air, it’s the soldiers off at war who ware little and are put front and center to show off their statuesque builds. It’s not as annoying as you’d originally think. The soldiers play their roles completely straight faced so, even though they look like they stepped out of the latest Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue, as long as they don’t seem to think their outfits are unreasonable, neither do we.
If you didn’t already know, the plot of the movie is based on one of history’s greatest stories, the battle of Thermopylae. The thing was, Xerxes was pretty much set on conquering Greece but King Leonidas of Sparta wouldn’t have that. Even though the oracle of Delphi predicted doom, Leonidas led a scant three hundred Spartans against the vast forces of Xerxes. The Spartans stood their ground at the narrow valley of Thermopylae where the armies of Xerxes were forced into a bottleneck. Even though the men were doomed to die (by the oracle and by blunt facts) they stood their ground to death rather than submit to slavery by a tyrant. I’ve never been so privately thrilled to be of Greek descent as when I was imagining the courage and ferocity of these heroes in battle.
The movie is all about the idea that freedom isn’t free. A simplistic and somewhat cliché idea, to be sure, but it feels new and more moving than ever as King Leonidas, played by “Phantom of the Opera’s” Gerard Butler, and his wife Queen Gorgo, played by a talented Lena Headey, talk with conviction of liberty and duty to one’s nation over duty to one’s self.
At the beginning of “300” the dialogue suggests that this movie has a foot both in the past and in the present. This seems uncomfortable at first, but as the movie goes along we realize that it does indeed have its feet planted in these two places and it means to. By the end, all awkwardness of mixed dialogue has surrendered to the power and sheer nerve of the epic story arc.
It’s a harsh movie, in fact it’s one of the most brutal cinematic experiences I’ve ever seen, ranking up there with “The Passion of the Christ” and “Kill Bill” in unrelenting violence. But, like both of those movies, this isn’t just shock value. It’s a reminder to people who may have forgot that there was in fact a time when such things as bravery and protection of your home and freedom were of the utmost importance. It’s a war story, a stylized history lesson, and a moving love story all wrapped in some of the most striking cinematic visuals you are ever likely to experience.

A