Only About 299, but Who’s Counting

Being a fan of the graphic novel by Frank Miller, I was excited to see his vision transformed onto screen. The visual brilliance of Sin City proved that 300 could be a grand visual treat. Could this be the culmination of my comic movie dreams? Could hack and slash beat out the likes of Jessica Alba in glasses, Bat nipples, and Ben Affleck in leather? I sure hope so!

There was a fair amount of criticism when this film was released. Too much violence perhaps, too much racism. Wait…racism. I’m sorry but somehow a fantasy film based on a graphic novel based on a myth based on a true event seems like a difficult place to insert racism. How about the assertion that this reflects the United States and Iraq? I actually laughed and threw up a bit in my mouth when I heard that one. Let us take a step back and see why many of these ideas are filled with hot air.

First of all, the story itself is told through the eyes of Stelios (Michael Fassbender) after being sent by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) back to Sparta. This creates the aura of myth to 300. Stelios is not necessarily telling the perfect truth, instead he is telling the perfect story. This type of storytelling harkens back to The Iliad and The Odyssey, where real events become myths where gods deal in the work of men. Most of the criticism of the film lacks weight when placed in this context. We are sitting down to hear a myth; and like many myths, this one was overdone, But in a good way.

The violence is over the top, but this is Sparta and again; a story. “Of course we beat up 3,000 guys with death masks”, instead of “well they were farmers but they had a few pitchforks.” The violence makes sense in terms of the time period and in terms of the myth-making that is taking place. The other guys have to be bigger, faster, and stronger to make the story. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is larger than life, much like that really big guy that mugged me. Seriously, the point is that you have a very specific viewpoint from which the narrative is presented. This explains the levels of debauchery we see from the Persians. They are the enemy, and in order to rally the troops they must be viewed as vile. This type of brainwashing happens whenever wars take place.

One part that I did find a bit out of place was the subplot with Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey). It seemed to take away from the pacing a bit, until the kill. Again, over the top but this is Sparta. Women of Sparta were tougher than the rest of the men in Greece. Even though Queen Gorgo was portrayed in a manner befitting a queen, I actually started to believe that she was written in to add eye candy.

300 was not the best film of the year, but it certainly was a fun film to watch. I was impressed with the way in which the visuals matched the graphic novel. I was also impressed that the film went for it. Keep in the violence and keep it the myth is was made to be. You know, I never even mentioned the awesome cinematography. That’s what happens when the story is good, the film just works. I really think this is a modern myth, one that will be told again and again. However, I am still not sure if the underdog aspect can convince me that the Raiders will win more than 5 games this year. For Oakland, may we lose in glory!