Achilles and Patroclus

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2004)

OK I've read a number of the comments written about this movie - many tearing it down because of inaccuracies (not just inaccuracies but GLARING ones) - and in general I agree. While film makers need to have some license with the material in order to squeeze a 1000 page plus book into two hours, I agree with one of the other opinions that they changed SO much the writers would have been better off doing their own story in that time period. Peter Jackson did an infinitely better job with the Lord of the Rings because he gave the larger-than-life story the screen time it deserved.
Let me just add a couple of observations that I haven't seen listed in any of the other comments as of yet. I've heard a bit of Greek music in my day and the music in the background during the battle scenes (a lady singing "ah-ee-ay" etc.) does NOT sound Greek - sounded much more like an Indian chant. But my biggest beef with TROY is this: The reason that Achilles was SO bummed about the death of Patroclus and treated Hector the way he did was not because he felt guilty for sending his "cousin" into war but because they were LOVERS! The two men were inseparable and "closer than brothers" as referred to in both the Iliad and Odyssey. Granted, I didn't expect to see Brad Pitt in any make out scenes with another guy - the producers in Hollywood (and America audiences in general) are still a bit too homophobic for that. There are ways they could have hinted at the relationship however and made the connection between the two men much stronger without ever resorting to a physical moment. Instead, they portrayed Patroclus as a young pup that hung on Achilles every word while leaving no question in anyone's mind that Achilles was a straight, womanizer (albeit reformed at the end). Look at our first glimpse of Brad in the movie- he's sandwiched between two wenches!! Is it so hard for people to believe that the best fighter in the Trojan war was capable of an intimate relationship with another man? The admitted gay heroes in myth and history are so few and far between  does Hollywood really think it necessary to make this famous couple straight too?