Bella ciao In the on-line

Bella ciao

In the on-line production notes for the film Snyder is quoted as saying Frank took an actual event and turned it into mythology, as opposed to taking a mythological event and turning it into reality. That vision clearly absolves the filmmaker from any pretense of historical accuracy. In brief, this is a comic book version of Thermopylae writ large, utilizing all of the tricks of virtual reality and digitized magic. This film is not even science fiction, a genre based on an extension of reality. In fact, 300 is one step removed from sci-fi: it is fantasy. In a recent review of Oliver Stones Alexander epic, I suggested that there was a difference between historical inaccuracies based on ignorance and sloppy research, and deviations from historical accuracy based upon the film makers artistic vision: 300 falls into the latter category. Leonidas motivation is not credible, even in a comic book. The actual Spartan stand at Thermopylae as a delaying action is both credible and historical. But, for devotees of historical nitpicking: a few nits. There is no attempt to explain the complex issues faced by the Greek city-states confronting the Persian advance. Leonidas is portrayed as intending to take his 300 Spartans up to Thermopylae in order to defeat the Persians and fight for freedom. Setting aside the simple-minded ideology about liberty, reason, and justice like other Greeks, the Spartans themselves had a long history of attempting to coerce if not actually enslave other peoples when it suited their interests, it is ludicrous to suggest that a great Spartan general like Leonidas would believe that 300 men could thwart the advance of tens-perhaps hundreds-of thousands of Asian troops. Leonidas motivation is not credible, even in a comic book. The actual Spartan stand at Thermopylae as a delaying action is both credible and historical. The portrayal of the fighting is a mixed bag. The filmmakers decided to pare down the Spartan uniforms to their essential and symbolic features: helmet, cape, shield, greaves, and weapons. The result is heroic imagery, hoplites dressed in leather thongs and fighting without body armor. No Greek warrior would ever have stepped into battle without some sort of chest protector. But the fighting itself is dramatically portrayed. The actors had been well trained and the fight scenes carefully choreographed. Much has been made of the graphic violence-lots of spurting blood and decapitations-but I did not find this offensive or disturbing. It was all a product of the coordination between cinematographers and a sophisticated visual effects department, highly influenced by the graphic novel. Aside from some improbable feats of derring-do, the film portrayed the chaos and horror of close-combat infantry clashes with an approximation of reality not mentioned much by the writers of antiquity, but described so well by classicist Victor Davis Hanson in his 1989 book, The Western Way of War, Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. Details aside, one cannot help but admire the impressive technical achievement of this film. The 300 are shown marching south out of Sparta whereas Thermopylae is north of Sparta. There are other matters: Ephialtes, the local Greek who bella ciao the Spartans at Thermopylae, is instead portrayed as a horribly deformed Spartan outcast whose perfidy results from Leonidas refusal to allow bella ciao to join in the action. He reminded me of nothing more than Charles Laughtons portrayal of the title character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Leonidas wife, Gorgo, about whom little is said in the ancient sources, is given an enhanced role to play at home while her husband was busy at Thermopylae. The internal political machinations in Sparta are pure invention. The pass at Thermopylae is shown as a very narrow cleft between vertical rock faces, more appropriate for the canyon country of southern Utah than to the actual topography of this region of Greece. The 300 are shown marching south out of Sparta with Mt. Taygetos on the right whereas Thermopylae is north of Sparta. Fantasy animals appear from time to time-a huge wolf-like creature confronting the boy Leonidas, and monstrous rhinocerous creatures and elephants at Thermopylae. This is far-fetched stuff, and it bordered on the amusing as the Greeks forced the elephants off high cliffs to fall into the sea. I was not as much concerned about the actual absence of such cliffs at Thermopylae as I wondered how in the world Xerxes transported those elephants across the Hellespont. Of course, they may have come by of this. The Asians, in particular Xerxes chillingly played by the Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro, are portrayed as the embodiment of evil and mindless tyranny, as opposed to the Spartans who represent freedom and justice. This stark dichotomy is unfortunate.