The astronaut farmer

The astronaut farmer ending

The 300 are shown marching south out of Sparta whereas Thermopylae is north of Sparta. There are other matters: Ephialtes, the local Greek who betrayed the Spartans at Thermopylae, is instead portrayed as a horribly deformed Spartan outcast whose perfidy results from Leonidas refusal to allow him to join in the action. He reminded me of nothing more than Charles Laughtons portrayal of the title character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Leonidas wife, Gorgo, about whom little is said in the ancient sources, is given an enhanced role to play at home while her husband was busy at Thermopylae. The internal political machinations in Sparta are pure invention. The pass at Thermopylae is shown as a very narrow cleft between vertical rock faces, more appropriate for the canyon country of southern Utah than to the actual topography of this region of Greece. The 300 are shown marching south out of Sparta with Mt. Taygetos on the right whereas Thermopylae is north of Sparta. Fantasy animals appear from time to time-a huge wolf-like creature confronting the boy Leonidas, and monstrous rhinocerous creatures and elephants at Thermopylae. This is far-fetched stuff, and it bordered on the amusing as the Greeks forced the elephants off high cliffs to fall into the sea. I was not as much concerned about the actual absence of such cliffs at Thermopylae as I wondered how in the world Xerxes transported those elephants across the Hellespont. Of course, they may have come by of this. The Asians, in particular Xerxes chillingly played by the Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro, are portrayed as the embodiment of evil and mindless tyranny, as opposed to the Spartans who represent freedom and justice. This stark dichotomy is unfortunate. It is an unnecessary misrepresentation of both Persians and Greeks to have set up both sides in unrelieved black and white: the East as sordid, evil, and dark, while the West represents beauty and light. I do the astronaut farmer ending read into this, as some have, a subliminal commentary on current events, but Ill bet that this film will not be shown in Tehran. Indeed, the racist implications of the film have already been condemned by Iranians who have not even seen it. And Leonidas dramatically portrayed by the Scottish actor Gerard Butler became more single-dimensioned as the film wore on. There were early sparks of humanity in Leonidas relationship with his wife and son, and in his efforts to persuade both men and gods of the importance of his mission, but he eventually became transformed into a simple killing machine. This is to be regretted, as Butler is a skilled actor encumbered by a pedestrian script. Only occasionally did the cardboard characterizations yield to some humanity: at the conclusion of the initial phase of the struggle at Thermopylae-which resulted in huge Persian losses-one Spartan turned to another and remarked, A helluva good start. And there was a touching moment when a Spartan officer, having witnessed the decapitation of the astronaut farmer ending son in the struggle, commented that his grief was compounded by the fact that he had never told his son how much he loved him. The film would have benefited from more such human touches. There is the answer Leonidas gave to Xerxes demand that the Spartans lay down their arms: Come and take them. The screen writers did their homework in preserving many famous sayings attributed to the Spartans, who were noted in antiquity for their laconic style of speaking. Plutarch, the Greek writer of the Roman period, wrote a long essay, Sayings of the Spartans, and the films writers appear to have read through these. For example, on two occasions when the sky was darkened by the dense shower of Persians arrows, Spartans quipped Well, well just have to fight in the shade.