"300"-- A Gratuitous Bloodbath for the Ages

300 is truly a film like no other (okay it is like Sin City in its look, because it shares the same director), but beyond that you have rarely seen anything like it. That is not to say it is all good--just that it is creative. Indeed from a Christian perspective, there is much to feel uncomfortable about in this film: there is unneeded, gratuitous nudity, an insane amount of violence (which is to be expected from a movie with a title written in blood), over-the-top characters, pretty much an all white cast in a movie about ancient Greeks and Persians, and Scottish and English actors whose accents come and go with each scene. Like I said there is much not to like.

Those things being said the film is one crazy ride, and does what it promises: it entertains. The story loosely depicts the historical "Battle of Thermopylae" from the perspective of Leonidas I, king of Sparta, a battle where 300 Spartans fought the massive army of Persia under King Xerxes. 300 versus close to a million some historians say. Spartans were the craziest of warriors-- shaped that way since birth. They know it is a suicide mission, but think they will have some chance if they can lure the enemy into a small crevice of mountain where "numbers will mean nothing" because only a few hundred of the Persians will be able to fight at once. That is pretty much where history ends in the film and where Frank Miller's graphic novel (a grown-up comic book) takes over, which the film is based on. The characters are way over the top: giants, men with lobster arms, leper-type magic men, immortals-- the list is too long and bizarre. Which is one of my critiques of the film beyond my moral complaints: it could have approached the subject matter from more of a historical perspective while still using Miller's basic premise, but it chooses to go way over the top, and it does take away from it.

The film is dazzling at every turn and will impress the most avid fans of fantasy. It is violent, though nor more so than other films of recent years, and hence it is one of the many films that have me reflecting on how gruesome war and violence really is. Though these types of films certainly diminish our capacities in regards to violence etc., (300 especially has this potential because of its form), they do depict war in its rawest form, and force us, a people who do not live with war everyday like so many millions around the world, to think about our role of peacemaking. It is interesting to think that we view ourselves as such a civilized society, which would never be barbarious enough to do the things these cultures did to people--but then to realize sadly that nothing has changed..seriously nothign has changed. We go to war for the same reasons they cite, and are as commmitted to nationalism and patriotic propganda just as much or more so than these people at times--is what these people were doing any different from what our governments are doing today: "same stuff, different day" as they say. So, when all is said and done everything about 300 is gratuitous--it is truly a bloodbath for the ages.