It is always interesting to see who and what people read into today’s movies… no sooner than the ‘300’ was released did an outpouring of criticism and political posturing grace our film season.
The ‘300’ — for those of you who are visiting from Endor — is a true-to-life movie about how 300 Spartans ( read: the present day Western Civilization or the Greek City State of Sparta that defined the word ‘macho’) held off the invading armies from the east ( read: today’s fundamentalist Islam or Persians from the same locale). The Spartans died to the last man but not before stretching the invading armies supply lines and creating great spirit among the Greeks of their time.
Needless to say, the current Iranian leader is most upset for reasons that are easy to guess. Obviously, he wants Western powers to stay impotent and hopeless… this movie offers the opposite.
The story of what became the Battle of Thermopylae is fascinating. Leonaidas ( one of the two kings of Sparta… yep, two kings) picked 300 of his toughest soldiers with one additional requirement… that each man was already a father. The ‘Persians’ wanted the Greeks to surrender and the exchange went something like this…
…Then Xerxes I asked him more forcefully to surrender their arms. To this Leonidas gave his noted answer: Μολών Λαβέ (pronounced: /molɔːn labe/), meaning “Come take them”.
Movie Critics are upset for a number of reasons … although they are not upfront about it. My guess is that although they are pleased that the heroes all died, they are not happy that any good came from it. Historical lessons sometimes do that to us… point us to what is real and what needs to be done. There is a lot we all can still learn from the Spartans.
By the way, don’t look for the ‘300’ to be on the ‘Oscars’ short list… the Academy is full of weenies. However, this a must see movie.
Roger Freberg