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I recently finished watching the film, "300" by Zack Snyder. I liked it quite a bit more than I had expected to like it, especially in light of it's well-known "graphic novel" (read "expensive comic book") origin.

This film is not, by anyone's spin, a truly "great" work of cinematic art, rivaling the all-time classics of cinema. And many of the caustic critics who represent a sizable minority of this (overall well-liked) film's reviewers, are eager to tell you exactly that! These naysayers whine about how it has such a limited storyline; about how it is overly violent; about how it is puerile matter suitable only for the likes of 14 year old video game addicts. They totally miss the point!

Rather ironically, the primary thing that makes this movie quite GOOD is not to be found in its stunning visual achievements, nor in its erotic edge, nor in its heavy saturation with testosterone; nor in its admittedly numerous excesses, some of which were lifted from other films such as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy; nor even in it more touching moments-- yes it has a few of those, even if they seem to have clearly been inspired by the softer scenes in "Gladiator".

No. What makes this film actually quite GOOD, oddly enough, is the degree to which it accurately reflects much of what REALLY happened in 480 BC in Sparta and at the battle of Thermopylae. Sure, it takes its share of liberties with the straight history of Herodotus. For instance, there were 7,000 Greek troops in all there for the first couple of days, not just 1,000 (300 Spartans + 700 Arcadians) as it seems to imply in the film. And Xerxes, most likely, had no more than about 150,000 soldiers "on the ground" at Thermopylae, rather than the "millions" which the film and some of the more questionable historic sources suggest.

That bit of "poetic license" notwithstanding, the film is really quite accurate in many ways, in historic terms; and, as such, I found it inspirational in a way I have seldom found ANY recent major film. This movie made me want to return to Herodotus and reread the original sources-- a thing I've not done since my high school days. In my view, any movie that inspires it viewers to pick up and read the classics of ancient Greek history cannot be all bad!

Not to mention the fact that when folks criticize any film (such as this one, or such as "Saving Private Ryan") that is based on one of the great wartime battles of history, for being "too violent," those critics fail to recognize that such films can NEVER BE violent enough to come even close to a true representation of what the REAL people who fought those battles experienced!!!

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King Leonidas at Thermopylae by Jacques-Louis David

(Click on the image of the painting above for a better view of the men's weapons.)

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--Spencer