Silly (heterosexistic) crippled version of the poem...

Rating: 1/10 (5 October 2004)

Well, I guess I don't have to repeat how shallow the movie is - others have done that here before. But what really made me angry was the way the script manipulated the poem, especially how it erased the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus and transferred Achilles' erotic/romantic interest to Briseis. What made this manipulation stranger was that actually in the movie Patroclus and Achilles behaved as male lovers would behave - yeah, OK, they were shown to be great friends but there isn't much of a difference between love and a very close friendship, is there? And I don't mean this in a homosexistic way (meaning that close friendship between men isn't possible without being sexual). But that's the way it is in the poem. This heterosexistic manipulation really robbed the movie of being a great chance in erasing 'gay' stereotypes or encouraging gay youth. Anyway, if you want to find out how it really was check out the chapter "Achilles and Patroclus" of Andrew Calimach's great collection of Greek myths (Andrew Calimach: Lovers' Legends. The Gay Greek Myths. Restored and Retold by Andrew Calimach. New Rochelle: Haiduk Press 2002). The book helped me a lot.