ambivalent reaction

Rating: 6/10 (8 March 2007)

I have just seen this movie that has opened in my native Greece and I found it a strange cinematic experience. Although the graphics were superb the absolute emphasis of the movie on violence and to lesser degree to sex does not match my taste. I liked the concept of narration and the voice of the narration as I liked very much the presentation of the socialization of a Spartan warrior which created great hopes for the rest of the movie that were not fulfilled. What I did not especially like was the presentation of the Ephors- the ruling gerontocratic oligarchic body of Sparta- whose existence is testified by historical record- as a closed club of terribly disfigured old and greedy perverts whith a eye for gold and young virgins. It is true that the Ephors as all ruling elites were prone to corruption but to be presented as a form of old monsters with Saddean tendencies-a sort of perverted equivalent to the Sith Lords of Star Wars goes to far. The same extravagant treatment is received by the court of Xerxes which resembles the circle of Jabba the Hutt, the galactic gangster of Star wars. Why should the the king of Persia be presented as a megalomaniac gay with the look of habitué of sadomasochistic clubs? As for Ephialtes were did they find that he was an ancient equivalent of Quasimodo. Herodotus may not have been the most reliable of historians by modern standards but were did he mention that the Persians had monsters with them? People said that that we must not find political propaganda in what is merely an art form but I can not but observe that the Easterners get a very bad press in this movie and I can not escape the equation that Spartans and Greece are equated with the West and the Persians with Arab fundamentalists, Persian Islamists and all of the rest bad people. The orgy of violence of this movie is something that reminds one of kill bill. The world-view is also simplistic, war is the honourable path while politicians are liers, greedy and occasionally rapists. The way the Spartan lifestyle was presented in the movie-which is correct on the harshness and self-sacrifice- I do not find it so enviable a life-style to die for and certainly not preferable to that of the peaderastic and philosophizing Athenians( although I can not discover why people inclined to philosophizing are more prone to pederasty than warriors- is there any statistical proof?).I find that a lot of platitudinous stereotypes and clichés were reproduced by this movie which has a low level of political sophistication. The movie may have pathbreaking technology but my overall impression is negative.