We saw 300 this weekend and I was literally blown away by it. It is truly a cinematic masterpiece. Visually captivating; the sets, costumes, make-up and creatures all serve to draw you in. The acting is superb as well.
During the movie, as I listened to the narrator telling the story of King Leonidas and the 300, I knew I’d heard that voice before, but could not remember where. The voice of the narrator, Dilios, is actor David Wenham. If you’ve seen Van Helsing then you might remember him as Van Helsing’s monkish sidekick.
The movie is a stylized version of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the invader in one of history’s most famous last stands. A small force led by King Leonidas of Sparta blocked the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I could pass. After three days of battle, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines. Dismissing the rest of the army, King Leonidas stayed behind with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers. Though they knew it meant their own deaths, they held their position and secured the retreat of the other Greek forces. The Persians succeeded in taking the pass but sustained heavy losses, extremely disproportionate to those of the Greeks. The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for a decisive naval battle that would come to determine the outcome of the war.
The subsequent Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis left much of the Persian navy destroyed and Xerxes was forced to retreat back to Asia, leaving his army in Greece under Mardonius, who was to meet the Greeks in battle one last time. The Spartans assembled at full strength and led a pan-Greek army that defeated the Persians decisively at the Battle of Plataea, ending the Greco-Persian War and with it Persian expansion into Europe.
A warning if you go see the movie; it’s loud. Very loud. Thunderous. I swear my heart was going to stop beating at some point. A lot of movies tend to be overly loud, but for 300 it worked. If your hearing is sensitive, though, bring along some cotton.
This is one movie I’m interested in seeing for myself. The Battle of Thermopylae is pretty significant in terms of ancient history, but it’s also perhaps not as well known as other key battles. Most people I’ve run into have enough problems realising that the Ancient Greeks weren’t just Greeks, that they would say they were Spartans or Athenians or whatever, without dealing with specific events as well. The events covered by the 300 do have the right kind of drama to translate well to the big screen if handles correctly.