Treaty of Versailles

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2017)

The FAQs for this movie quite incorrectly claims that WWII would still occur after the events of this movie. It actually would not, and the reason has nothing to do with Ares being killed. WWII could not occur because, in this movie, the TREATY OF VERSAILLES was killed. In real life, Ludendorff (as well as Hitler) blamed the signers of that treaty for "stabbing Germany in the back", and ultimately gassed Jews, partially in response to that. In this movie, the original signers are gassed by Ludendorff before they can even complete the process of signing. As a result, WWI ends, but not because of the Treaty of Versailles. This means Germany owes no reparations, so Germany is not impoverished, Jews are not blamed for betraying Germany, Hitler does not rise to power, and Poland does not become a separate country, so it can't be invaded by Germany because it remains part of German territory. Therefore, no WWII.
However, I had not wanted to make my movie review about that, though it is one of the most amazing insights of this movie, especially given the ethnic identities of the screenwriters, producers, and the star. Naturally, Ares is lying when he says "I am not the god of war, but the god of truth", meaning the lasso of truth does not work on him. You can't trust anything he says once that lasso is around him. He is, ironically, much more honest before that lasso winds up around him. However, this masterfully done movie is a major gem of truth. Ares is the father of Hippolyta and Antiope, making him the grandfather of Diana. Despite his claims, he had no intentions of crushing his granddaughter when he first met her, and he mostly hopes to scare her into joining him. He is not lying when he tells her he does not want to fight her. Diana's mother doesn't think humans are worth all of the family bickering, but she also lies to Diana when she claims Diana was fashioned from clay and therefore is not an Amazon. It is only because Diana IS an Amazon that she has the power to kill another god. Diana also knows her mother lied about that, because she repeatedly tells Steve that she IS an Amazon, but she is also trying to seduce Steve, so she also claims to Steve that she was fashioned from clay. She hopes that Steve will attempt to demonstrate for her where infants come from, and also prove to her that men are, indeed, necessary for sexual pleasure.
The symbolism of war originating in Britain, with "Sir Patrick Morgan" pretending to be too weak to personally fight, but hoping to profit from the war while he remains perfectly safe from afar, is also apt commentary about WWI. Symbolically, this movie is quite a history lesson that Americans have long remained unaware of.