film@ 300 spartacineri masin a, erb parsikneri dem en krvel, bolor@ mahacel en bayc vochmek@ chi nahanjel!!!!!! THIS IS SPARTTTTAAAAA
aveli manramas@ nranc hamar ovqer chgiten ays kinoi masin.
300
by Frank Miller
Plot:
In the year 480 BC, emperor Xerxes of Persia attempted to invade Greece and add it to his growing empire. At the time, Greece was made up of city-states, the greatest of which were Athens and Sparta. Facing invasion from the Persians, the Greek city-states attempt to raise an army to fight for their homes. However raising this army will take time. In order to buy the time it takes to get an army ready, King Leonidas of Sparta volunteers himself and 300 of his elite guard to hold off the entire Persian army of 100,000 plus men. They made their stand at Thermopylae knowing they would die.
Film Status:
300 is currently being shot as we speak. The lead role of King Leonidas is being played by Gerard “don’t call me Phantom” Butler. While a Frank Miller adaptation, this is not like Sin City. Don’t expect him to get the input he had with Sin City, this is being adapted in the normal Hollywood manner. What does that mean? Well, multiple writers, no inclusion of the original author in the creative process, etc. But hey, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be bad.
CRITIQUE:
Many years ago, in an effort to educate children, great literature was adapted into comics. These books were named Classics Illustrated and acted as cliffs notes for a whole generation of kids. The reason I bring this up is because 300 by Frank Miller is the story of one of the great battles in history and reads like History Illustrated. Before going further into critiquing the book I want to address the main nitpick with this book. Many history buffs complain about he accuracy of the book. I am not going to try and defend this book as worthy of being a text in a history class, but it does have educational merit. I say that because after reading this, I myself was energized to go and read up on the 300 Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae, and if a teen reading this is inspired to learn more it has already gone beyond being entertainment. So if you want accuracy watch the Hitler, sorry I mean History channel.
Frank Miller has done something here that I am not used to from him. With Leonidas and the Spartans he has written a story about the nobility of sacrifice. Normally Frank Miller’s characters (as you can see in Sin City) will sacrifice themselves but they do it because they do not value themselves. These Spartans are proud warriors who know that each one of them is worth ten times the soldiers of the other Greek city states. Yet all of them go to die in the hopes of giving Greece a chance to defend itself. This story is a slight departure from the grim city-scapes Miller is famous for.
“Spartans ready your breakfast and eat hearty—for tonight we dine in HELL!” –Leonidas
While the character’s motivations and nobility differ from the normal Frank Miller, the art and hyper violence do not. I really think Miller was able to do a better job with the ancient battle scenes because he had so much experience with illustrating dismemberment in his past works. Man kind has come a long way in the past few thousand years, but compare Sin City to 300 and you will see that once guns are out of the mix, you won’t find that many new ways to kill someone. For me, this added gore is not just for show, it helps add a sense of the brutality that was common place in this era.
The story is what makes this book more than just a book full of pretty pictures. Miller has taken this historical moment and made it a metaphor for a lot of different things. First is that in order to win, sometimes you first have to lose. A novel concept that has gone away as far as I can tell. Also this battle becomes a struggle between reason and barbarism. To Leonidas the rule of law is the most important part of society. Given the events in the world today it is interesting how this conflict could be used by either political orientation (left or right) to justify their position. This is a testament to how universal the acceptance of the rule of law has become.
This story is an excellent introduction to the legend of the 300 Spartans. I gotta admit I’m a sucker for these ancient battles. And as far as sword and sandal ancient battles go, this one is perhaps the greatest of all time. Miller draws you the reader into this world using relatively few words, and a comparatively short number of pages. This is a testament to the subject, and the writer for letting the moment capture the reader. Sometimes writers try to over explain and stumble, not so here.
“Cruel Leonidas demanded that you stand. I require only that you kneel.” –Xerxes
IN CONCLUSION:
”A NEW age is begun. An age of GREAT DEEDS, an age of REASON. An age of JUSTICE. An age of LAW. And ALL WILL KNOW that THREE HUNDRED SPARTANS gave their LAST BREATH to DEFEND it.” –Leonidas
