I expected that the film "300" would cause some trouble at least for the Iranians whether inside or outside Iran.
The "300" film which is based upon a graphic novel by the Frank Miller who was inspired by the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C , when the Persian army attacked the Greece.
First of all the movie is not released yet in Egypt so I can judge it , I only depend upon my reading , watching the trailers and making of the film which is invading now the American Box office for couple of weeks now
I like this kind of Film Noire - Blue screen made movies despite my dislike to Sin city and the world of Tomorrow yet my admiration started with King Kong and Lord of the rings
Anyhow I have a confession when I saw the official photo releases without knowing the actors and their roles , only the plot that it was a battle between Greeks and Persians, I thought that Gerard Butler was 
Of course it is the idea of Miller to draw him like this , but if we look back to the Persian ancient history and the photos and arts on their temples , we will that their kings didn't look like what Rodrigo Santoro looked, where as in the temples Xerox looked different
Ancient Persian looked more like Butler in the movie who looks more 
in fact they had even longer beard , it was their distinguish sign or appearance
Anyhow it is based a graphical novel for a specific segment of people and the movie itself is for a specific segment of people , the fear is that part of this segment never reads book in history in its own life to know that the Persian civilization at that time was not as savage as they portrayed it , it is enough to know that the gardens system was founded in Persia and the word of "Paradise" comes from a Persian name .
The modern Iranians despite their Islamic revolution are very proud of their history in a way that you can't imagine , it is enough to know even that the Shiite Islamic belief has got old Persian roots , One of the reasons why the Iranians are so attached to the Shiite sect is that Emam Hussein was married to the second daughter Shahrbanu of their last shah Yazdgerd III of the Sassanid dynasty.
Whether in the time of the monarchy or after the revolution the Persian Pride didn't disappear
By the way it is not the first time that Hollywood presents the story of the 300 Spartans , in 1962 it was presented but it didn't cause all that trouble with the Persians because it wasn't bloody or violent or black and dull nor the timing
We shouldn't forget that Iran and the tension between it and the west world especially the United States reached to the epic , the nuclear file from a side , Iraq from side and Lebanon from another side and of course we won't forget the grand Satan of the west and axis of the evil of the east
The movie made the worst presenting the Persians , who are coming from the east with their savage and hatred as a destruction machine to the west and no would stop it except by a huge fight full of honor by only 300 brave western Spartans
Warner brothers company defends the film as it likes , fictional not fictional ,it is not the problem , people doesn't care if its fictional or not , they care about the symbols behind ,what it does mean , may be the film makers and Miller when they made the film and comic book they didn't put in their mind what the Persians are thinking about the movie but here we are talking about critical time
Anyhow let's speak something Egyptian now enough with Iran and Persia , it is not the first time plus come on 2 mummies movies and we didn't complain and they even were shown in Egypt
Spartans and Sparta have very important place in the Egyptian POP culture thanks to the big sarcastic writer Ahmed Raged and his daily "1/2 word" box in Daily Al-Akhabr for 30 years.
"Ancient Sparta" is the example of the corrupted bureaucratic nation , a symbol of Egypt and its retarded political regime , the assembly of Sparta , the ministers of Sparta and of course we won't forget the wisdom of elder of Sparta
Sparta is very interesting because a military state while Athens was philosophy and art State, in the end both states became history
Good post, I talked about the 300 a week ago when I saw it. It was really bombastic and I would add a must see.
ReplyDeleteA little typo you have, Xerxes not Xerox. Meaning كسرى
You can read what I said here
By the way, I really agree with you on the geopolitical part of your article, I think the timing of the release ..etc all has a meaning.
I've read quite a few mixed reviews of this movie and had hoped to see it before leaving the States. I still plan on seeing it eventually. As a descendant of Spartans I can only say they were militaristic (and mean) and yes, their culture is dead, real dead. One review called the depictions of the Persians as "high camp". It certainly has become a big hit with the gung-ho types in the U.S.
ReplyDelete@qwaider, well there are several typos I found here , Xerxes but it is not the Arabic meaning of it ,was used as a title of their king in our hisotry
ReplyDelete@vagabondblogger, the timing of the movie is killing and it playsa good role here , anyhow despite all I recommend to see it before leaving the states
- 300 isn't a film noir !
ReplyDelete- sky captain & the world of tomorrow isn't a film noir !
- King Kong and LOTR are not film noir !
visual effects and blue screens doesn't necessarily mean film noir, film noir is a genre, and you can even create an Animation film that's film noir.
I can't wait to see 300 anyways !
cheers :)
as I understand ya Sherif and you know more than the engimatic dark effects with not so happy story can be categorized like as noire ,I know the style from the 1950s american films ,
ReplyDeleteanyhow I was mistaken to include LOTR and KingKong with Sin city , they are blue screen movies ,but Sin city can be considered as noire like the rest of Frank miller art
to tell you the truth I love this art ,despite it can be dull but I just love it may be because it is old I don't but I love
and that's why I want to see the 300 so so much that I thought of downloading it yet I rethought and said myself this should be seen in Cinema
just cant wait to see the movie .. the soundtrack is unbelievable. I hope that they wont ban it (sin city was banned)!
ReplyDeleteEven if they wont ban it .. censorship will make it a 60 min movie !
2 months and it will be available in a DVD quality avi files.
But what i dont understand why the Iranians or Persians are so touchy about the movie? isnt it an islamic state which doesnt care about the persian history?
3agayeb
On the contrary ya Ahmed ,the Persians or the Iranians are very proud of their history,yes it is the Islamic republic but don't forget that as I mentioned the daughter of their last shah married Emam El-Hussein , you know it is like when you say the mother of the Arabs are Hagar from Egypt.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the timing of the movie release is very important ,Iran and the attack on it are always in the headlines
You know in 1956 in the same year of the Suez war , the Jewish producers in Hollywood produced the Exodus or 10 commandments I don't remember which one to be correct , and Nasser was considered as the new pharaoh
It is the symbol behind the movie
I went to see this film because of the controversy around it. It was typical Hollywood rubbish; taking someone else's history and wrecking it, just as they did with, Braveheart & the Da Vinci code etc.
ReplyDeleteMiller wrote a graphic novel i.e. a comic book for adults and the film is based on this. The film is described as based on a Greek myth. The battle of Thermopylae was not a myth. It was a historical fact and an important event in Greek history; a small country resisting a mighty empire.
I hated the way the Persians were portrayed; like something out of a horror comic. I think this was done to increase the film's mass appeal. Most Americans are half educated. But the film is not anti Islamic as the battle took place 1,000 years before Islam.
I hated the historical inaccuracies in this film. A hunchback monster did not betray the Greeks just a local Greek shepherd. Leonidas led an army of about 7,000 Greeks and all the Greeks took turns rotating to the front of the phalanx at Thermopolae. They fought in disciplined hoplite fashion and held the narrow pass for about two days. About 4,000 Greeks died there. On the final day 700 hoplites from Thespiae stayed on to fight beside the Spartans. Like the Spartans they all died there.
By the way Gerard Butler is Scottish, not Irish. Some American film critics have ridiculed his Scottish accent. We're used to that here in Scotland. You can go to /www.imdb.com/name/nm0124930/ to see what he looks like without all the make up.
Dorothy
Dorothy
@Dorothy, first of all believe or not but I like your scottish accent thanks Sir Sean Connery , I really love it , Butler is fine actor
ReplyDeleteabout the history and comic book you are right ,in fact you put your hand on one of the parts of the problem even better , the half of the American people as you referred are not educated enough to know the real history , the battle already I read about it again and as you said they were n't 300 , they were in the beginning the 7000 from the union greece cities and so on
the dangerous thing is that it is targetting the teenagers planeting in their minds the hate and disrespect to other civilizations , great ones based upon lies
it is like the clash of civilization and hate based upon race and color ,the Ambassdor of the Persian was black and look how he was killed by the kick of the Spartans king
about Iran and Islam , it has nothing with Islam but when I referred to the Islam in the post I was trying to explain why till now the Iranians are so proud with their heirtage and how they are preserving it to what extent
I haven't seen the film yet, but I'm familiar with the story and the current concerns voiced by the Iraninan nation. Nevertheless, nowadays the big empire of a thousand nations correspond more to a place on the other side of the world with respect to Iran. If there are savage monsters on the rampage around there (middle east) they didn't come from Persia!
ReplyDeleteI do hope everyone is able to beat the censorship and enjoy the film for what it is.
Zeinobia,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I want to say I fell in love with Egypt long ago when I was a little girl. Our teacher told us a little about it. Then at home, I saw pictures from the ancient tombs in a book. I was hooked for life.
I take what you mean abut the film stirring up distrust and hatred in young people for a culture they know little or nothing about. In the film, the Persians were barely human beings.
The Persian empire was huge but I don't think it included sub saharan Africa. I think it was historically inaccurate to have a black actor play the Persian ambassador. But I could be wrong. It's most unlikely he was killed as in the film.
I really hope this film dies the death and soon. I don't have a good word to say about it.
I hate to sound preachy but empires no matter how great or cultured were built on the exploitation and misery of conquered peoples. That includes the British empire which most poeple here are now very embarrassed about. It surprises me that other former imperial powers don't feel this way and some are proud they once conquered so many lands.
Pax.
Dorothy
@Dorothy first of all I wish that you come to Egypt because much more beautiful than the book
ReplyDeleteabout the movie you hinted to a very important fact , the Persians didn't appoint ambassdor from non persian orgins , plus their authority reached only to Egypt not to Sudan , or to Libya so there can't be a black ambassdor , and that' made think that not only it is racist towards the Persians but also colored person
It is great in the visual effects but it is bad in the story and the timing , I don't know why they are so proud of it
about the powers this is a human nature I am afraid the family of authority on other land and other people's lives
as an Egyptian I am not proud with my ancestors did with the Jews nor what we did from couple of decades in Yemen , but what we can say some people just like it and i guess those are weak from the inside
Good post, girl. I was quite horrified at the depiction of Xerxes myself. There were parts of the movie that were out and out racist, but of course if one were to say anything, it would be so easy to dub it hypersensitivity or a misunderstanding of cinema.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter whether Iran is now Islamic or not, that doesn't mean they can't take great pride in their illustrious history.
Anyway, I'm sorry I wasted my time on this pathetic flick. You are perfectly right about the timing -- just right to stir up anti-Iranian emotions in the Western world. The sad part is people are dumb enough to fall for it.