This one's great...Trust me, I'm a historian

Rating: 10/10 (24 March 2007)

Although the press has given this movie a very hard time about not being historically accurate, nothing can be further from the truth, keeping in mind the movie was based not on Herodotos but on a comic book. The Spartans are brilliantly showed in the first 20 minutes, there is a scene where a pitched battle begins, when the advancing army hits the shield wall of the phalanx with a great bang, pushing them back. Also the swiftness with which the Spartans stand to attention is striking. The fact that the chest plating is missing can be caused by the 19th century painting by Louis David, or because it just looks better. There is shot of Leonidas' but in there that looks like the sculpture of a famous Greek sculptor, who depicted Hercules. The movie contains more of these subtle but to the trained eye amusing references. It is of course silly that Persians look like Sudanese or Etheopians, and that they hurled rhino's and demons into battle, but that is the comic talking. If you keep in mind that there are a lot of obvious comic-based things in this picture, you can filter it out for yourself. But the position of Spartan women is actually quite striking, they did have almost the same rights as men. I would show students the first half hour to illustrate Spartan warfare and their laws and habits. That should count for something, the rest is provided by the magnificent lighting and adding of color to the black and white movie. To end one needs to state that Leonidas is in fact a real person, in the movie he does show feeling and intellect. After seeing the trailer I was really pleased (and relieved) to discover he did. I have always been a fan of Leonidas at Thermopylae... that's why I went to study Ancient History. So trust me on this one ;)