a fascist wet dream

Rating: 4/10 (22 March 2007)

300 is based on the ancient legend of 300 spartan warriors defending the honour of Greece against an insurmountable Persian foe. a handful of Spartans who held out against the invading Persian forces until the Greek army arrived, hence, their gallantry passing into myth and legend. the film 300 is based on a comic reading by famed author frank miller. i have not read the comic, therefore cannot comment. the film itself was no doubt made with the current occupation of Iraq in mind. hence, it will play incredibly well in the American mid-west. to the rest of the world, sadly, it plays out as the few in Europe, who stand up to the many in Asia. this being mentioned time after time in one of the many gallant spartan speeches. the sacrifice of the few for the 'freedom' of the many. all the Spartans look like buff models, the archetypal bronze male of Greek mythology, with a six pack to a man. yet, the Persians are all faceless. where they are lucky to show physical attributes, be they negroid, oriental or plain semitic, they are hideously deformed, to a man. even their leader, Xerxes, stands 10 feet tall and proclaims to be divine. its not a bad film if you are blind to the blatant racial undercurrents. the Spartans look so gallant as they cut down the Persian foes, and so sad when when of them falls, all done in lovely slo-mo. even the queen makes a last ditch speech to the senate for a final 'upsurge'. but it is all just so terribly one sided, not to mention totally unbelievable. the ultimate in right wing fascist fantasy.