Epic fantasy history, a new classic

Rating: 10/10 (10 March 2007)

I just got back from seeing 300 in a sold-out theater.
They got the culture of the Spartans right: Boys are taken from their families and serve in the military with only minor contact with their families until they are 30. They are often married in absentia, visit their wives for short overnight visits. They sometimes didn't know their sons, as sometimes the sons turn 7 before the fathers reach 30 - the lives of young trainees and soldiers didn't cross. The great leaders stay on in the military as generals.
The rights granted to Spartan women were a source of friction between Sparta and Athens, Spartan women could inherit land and speak in the Assembly, mostly because the men were so busy being soldiers there was little other choice. They even had a "Women's Olympics" and trained the women in defensive fighting - a rather realistic people they were, the women could defend themselves if they have to. Sparta's treatment of women was highly uncharacteristic of the time or region.
I thought the film was a great comic-book re-telling of a historic battle. They went a little overboard with the "make the enemy into monsters" thing, rather literally. It was more LotR Orc-type fantasy than history, but it worked for the story.
Gory. Way, way gory. But somehow all those half-naked Spartan soldiers with the incredible pecs and six-pack abs never got any blood on them. Unless of course the storyline calls for it.
300 has an epic fantasy feel to it, the filmmakers never bothered to try to make it look real, it is a comic-book come to life. It is not a film that cares about details, the Persian Army is a mass of distant figures and lights and tents. It is bigger than life, and grittier than dirt. 300 is a film that is about the big picture. The distant Persian Army is massive, so massive it's numbers and individuals don't matter. All that matters is these few Spartan soldiers who stand between the Persians and their home.