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Separating fact from fiction in '300'



From The Washington Times: 'Crowds flock to see the film "300" about the ancient Spartans' last stand at the pass at Thermopylae against an invading Persian army. Yet many critics panning the film have alleged it is essentially historically inaccurate. Are they right? Here are some answers. But first two qualifiers. I wrote an introduction to a book about the making of "300" after being shown a rough cut of the movie in October. Also remember that "300" does not claim to follow exactly ancient accounts of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. It is an impressionistic take on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, intended to entertain and shock first, and instruct second. Indeed, at the real battle, there weren't rhinoceroses or elephants in the Persian army. Their king, Xerxes, was bearded and sat on a throne high above the battle; he wasn't, as in the movie, bald and sexually ambiguous, and he didn't prance around the killing field. And neither the traitor Ephialtes nor the Spartan overseers, the Ephors, were grotesquely deformed.' More / More than 300 views / 'It's all geek to me' / This is madness

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Comments

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It had a lot of mythology and wierd creatures, hence not real.
Wasn't It pretty gory right?

By Kingnutin, # 27. March 2007, 14:08:52

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Saw it last night. It's history interpreted as wild fantasy for the Xtreme gamer generation. Compelling as it is as a loud and loutish action-adventure, the film overly soups up the drama, dispenses dubious doses of morality, and somewhat troublingly, seems to promote mindless violence as a mystical virtue. Check out Rudolph Mate's equally flawed but more historically hinged 1962 movie 'The 300 Spartans' -- apparently the inspiration for Frank Miller's graphic novel on which '300' is based -- for a saner and less stylised account of the Battle of Thermopylae.

By stratstrangler, # 28. March 2007, 03:11:36

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