Greeks blast '300' Movie

ATHENS – Greek critics have blasted "300," a Hollywood recreation of the 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas of Sparta held back a massive Persian military invasion, leading to its eventual defeat.

The movie – an adaptation of artist Frank Miller's graphic novel – opens in Greece on Friday and will show at 70 screens in greater Athens.

Daily Ta Nea newspaper gave Zack Snyder's "300" zero out of 10, with critic Dimitris Danikas claiming the film even carried a message about the U.S. war on terror.

"By ancient Persia, they refer to modern Iran – whose soldiers are portrayed as bloodthirsty, underdeveloped zombies," he wrote. ``They are stroking racist instincts in Europe and America."

Robby Eksiel at the daily Ethnos said moviegoers would be dazzled by the "digital action" but irritated by the "pompous interpretations and one-dimensional characters."

Greece's critics were similarly scathing about other recent movies depicting ancient battles, including Wolfgang Petersen's ``Troy" and Oliver Stone's "Alexander" in 2004.

It's a pattern that disappointed Panayiotis Timoyiannakis, the lone voice of support among Greek critics for "300"

"This is not a university lecture, it's a movie," he wrote in the daily Eleftheros Typos. "It's an adaptation of a comic to the big screen, and that's only how it should be judged . . . When seen this way, it gets high marks."

I don't know the extent of internal Spartan politics regarding the decision to only send 300. Historians blame it on the religious festival. Spartans did have a history of adhering to these religious events.

Fair enough. 'History', as it was written then, tended to gloss over those kind of internal politics in favor of the conflict without. Most historians that I have read agree with you -- that the delay, and the small size of the Spartan force destined for Thermopylae had to do with their strict observance of religious festivals.

I find that explanation unsatisfying. Still I have no evidence to the contrary, only speculation.

BTW, if the Athenian Navy was such a threat to an amphibious operation, why couldn't they have destroyed the Hellespont bridgehead just as easily? Seems to me the bridge was a fat target.

Longtermmemmory is right, the only Greeks who didn't like this movie were the critics and who listens to them:

Greek new article about the movie: The first few paragraphs talk about how records are being broken at Greek cinemas over Leonidas 300 even though some mediocre reviews were given by said critics, but who listens to critics anyway. In its first showing it broke all Greek records bypassing the very popular Greek film Politiki Kouzina, by the way that is of the best Greek movies ever, and another domestic Greek hit Sirens in the Aegean. The 300 also bypassed Troy and Pirates of the Caribbean. The news article also comments towards the end about how the 300 premiere in North America was one of the few instances where movie theaters were sold out days in advance.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:_mT1Es2-1qYJ:www.in.gr/news/article.asp%3FlngEntityID%3D786347%26lngDtrID%3D253+%CE%9B%CE%B5%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B1+%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9+%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD+300&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

300: A raving success in Greece

'However, this week's big surprise is 300, Zach Snyder's retelling of the battle of Thermopylae. Even though the movie was shown in just 337 cinemas around the world, it was a winner with audiences, raking in $6.2m (£3.2m). In Greece, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan, it accounted for over 50% of cinema tickets sold. In particular, 300 was a raving success in Greece, where the battle of Thermopylae took place. It raked in $2.9m (£1.5m) in a week, more than the hit Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest did there in the same period last year.

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2032650,00.html

'Homecoming' for '300' on Wed. in Sparta

Leonidas and his heroic band of 300 Spartans will enjoy a "homecoming" of sorts Wednesday evening in the eponymous southern Greek town of Sparta, nearly 25 centuries after falling to a man at Thermopylae, as Zack Snyder's big-screen epic "300" will be shown in tandem with a weeklong exhibition devoted to Frank Miller's comics, whose graphic novel is the basis for "300". "The film '300' isn't a historical movie but an artistic one, the visualisation of a comics novel. If you distinguish this crucial point, then you'll be liberated; if you see it (the film) differently, then you'll have several objections," exhibition director Panos Papadolias, himself a native of modern-day Sparta, said. Anticipation for the Warner Bros. production has been brewing in the east Mediterranean country for months, with an "avant premiere" Tuesday evening of the film shown on all 15 screens of an upscale Athenian mall's cineplex. Press reports on Wednesday cited figures of up to 15,000 tickets sold for Thursday's nationwide debut of the unabashedly gory and at times surrealistic account of Leonidas' last stand before the immense army led by Persian emperor Xerxes at Thermopylae, central Greece, in 480 BC. Meanwhile in Sparta, the distinctly laidback seat of Laconia prefecture in the extreme southeast of the Peloponnese, local officials hope the film will spark increased interest and more tourist arrivals through their inland town. "It's an opportunity to promote Laconia and Sparta and to show that ancient Sparta was not just a war machine, as depicted in the film, but that it also had its own civilisation, poetry, music and culture," prefect Constantinos Fourlas told an Athens daily on Wednesday. In response to criticism over the movie's colossal doses of violence and certain historical inaccuracies, Sparta Mayor Sarantos Antonakos said the movie still qualifies as a distinct honor for the area, despite occasional divergences from the actual battle, "which is sacred for us and for all humanity." The exhibition on Frank Miller features large stills of his works displayed along a pedestrian way adjacent to Sparta's archeological museum. Caption: Film-goers at a northern Athens mall wait in line on Wednesday, March 7, 2007, for tickets to see Zack Snyder's "300", which debuts around the east Mediterranean country on Thursday. ANA-MPA / S. Pantzartzi.

http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=5131825&maindocimg=5130862&service=102

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