just turn off the sound

Rating: 1/10 (7 April 2007)

A great disappointment and a dangerous movie. The visuals are wonderful: what could be expected from the creators of Sin City. As for the rest - it would be better if the movie were pure fantasy, without any reference to a historical event. As it is now, the movie is ahistorical, racist, sexist, and ethnocentric. Somebody should have looked through some reputable sources. Sparta was the least civilized Greek city-state at the moment (throwing their weak and deformed babies off the cliff - nice!), so presenting it as an example of Western civilization would be unfair to that civilization. Persians did not include rhinoceroses in their cavalry and Africans in their state and military bureaucracy (remember, this is not a globalized world yet!), and Persian kings ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT BE BEARDLESS! It was actually a religious requirement. The practice of "loving boys" was widespread throughout Mediterranian, as much in Sparta (actually more, because they spent so much time in military training away from their families and female companionship) as in Athens or in Persia. All the allusions to Freedom (with the capital F) in a slaveholder society are quite ridiculous. But beyond all the silliness, there are some disturbing parallels. Non-whites, homosexuals and handicapped as "undermensch", women allowed to speak only from the point of "kitchen- church-cradle" principle, masculinity, war-proneness and unthinking loyalty to one's military leader as virtues... Wasn't it already happening at some point? Why do I have this feeling that Dr Gebbels, the minister of propaganda of the Third Reich, would be very proud of this movie? Of course, he would object to the fine English accent of the Spartan heroes...