300 (film)
300 is a 2007 film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller, and is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with Frank Miller attached as an executive producer and consultant, and was shot mostly with bluescreen to duplicate the imagery of the original comic book.
Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his army of over one million soldiers, while in Sparta, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support for her husband. The story is framed by a voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). Through this narrative technique, various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of historical fantasy.
300 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters in the US on March 9, 2007, and on DVD, Blu-Ray and HD DVD on July 31, 2007. The film broke box office records, although critics were divided over its look and style. Some acclaimed it as an original achievement, while others criticized it for favoring visuals over characterization and its controversial depiction of the ancient Persians.
Cast
Gerard Butler - King Leonidas
Lena Headey - Queen Gorgo
Dominic West - Theron
David Wenham - Dilios
Vincent Regan - Captain
Michael Fassbender - Stelios
Tom Wisdom - Astinos
Andrew Pleavin - Daxos
Andrew Tiernan - Ephialtes
Rodrigo Santoro - Xerxes
Giovani Cimmino
- Pleistarchos (as Giovani Antonio Cimmino)
Stephen McHattie - Loyalist
Greg Kramer - Ephor #1
Alex Ivanovici - Ephor #2
Kelly Craig - Oracle Girl
Eli Snyder - Leonidas
at 7 / 8 yrs
Tyler Max Neitzel - Leonidas at 15 yrs (as Tyler Neitzel)
Tim Connolly - Leonidas' Father
Marie-Julie Rivest - Leonidas' Mother
Sebastian St. Germain - Fighting Boy
(12 years old)
Peter Mensah - Messenger
Dennis St John - Spartan Baby Inspector
Neil Napier - Spartan with Stick
Dylan Smith - Sentry #1 (as Dylan Scott Smith)
Maurizio Terrazzano -
Sentry #2
Robert Paradis - Spartan General
Kwasi Songui - Persian
Alexandra Beaton - Burned Village Child
Frédéric Smith - Statesman
Loucas Minchillo - Spartan Baby A
Nicholas Minchillo - Spartan Baby
B
Tom Rack - Ephor #3
David Francis - Ephor #4
James Bradford -
Ephor #5
Andrew Shaver - Free Greek-Potter
Robin Wilcock
- Free Greek-Sculptor
Kent McQuaid - Free Greek-Blacksmith
Marcel Jeannin - Free Greek-Baker
Jere Gillis - Spartan General #2
Jeremy
Thibodeau - Spartan Boy
Tyrone Benskin - Persian Emissary
Robert Maillet - Uber Immortal (Giant)
Patrick Sabongui
- Persian General
Leon Laderach - Executioner
Dave Lapommeray - Persian
General Slaughtered
Vervi Mauricio - Armless Concubine
Charles Papasoff
- Blacksmith
Isabelle Champeau - Mother at Market
Veronique-Natale Szalankiewicz - Daughter at Market (3 / 5 years old)
Maéva
Nadon - Girl at Market
David Thibodeau - Boy #1 at Market
David Schaap
- Potter
Jean Michel Paré - Other Council Guard
Stewart Myiow
- Persian General
Andreanne Ross - Concubine #1
Sara Giacalone - Concubine
#2
Ariadne Bourbonnière - Kissing Concubine #1
Isabelle Fournel
- Kissing Concubine #2
Sandrine Merette-Attiow - Contortionist
Elisabeth
Etienne - Dancer
Danielle Hubbard - Dancer
Ruan Vibegaard - Dancer
Genevieve Guilbault - Slave Girl
Bonnie Mak - Slave Girl
Amélie Sorel - Slavegirl
Caroline Aspirot - Slave Girl
Gina
Gagnon - Slave Girl
Tania Trudell - Slave Girl
Stéphanie Aubry
- Slave Girl
Mercedes Leggett - Slave Girl
Atif Y. Siddiqi - Transsexual (Arabian) #3 (as Atif Siddiqi)
Stephania Gambarova - Slave Girl
Chanelle Lamothe - Slave Girl
Sabrina-Jasmine Guilbault - Slave Girl
Manny Cortez Tuazon - Transsexual
(Asian) #1
Camille Rizkallah - Giant with Arrow
Trudi Hanley - Long
Neck Woman
Neon Cobran - Litter Bearer / Slave
Gary
A. Hecker - Ubermortal Vocals (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Deke Richards - Spartan Soldier
Marc Trottier - Spartan Warrior
Awards
300
(soundtrack)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation,
search
300
Soundtrack
Released March 6, 2007
Length 64:50
Label Warner Bros. Records
Professional reviews
Amazon.com link
SoundtrackNet
link
Tracksounds link
Movie Wave (nil) link
300 is the soundtrack
to the 2007 film 300. It was composed by Tyler Bates and was released on March
6, 2007, three days before the film opened for public viewing.
The lyrics sung are in Greek and Latin. The opening lines of the track "Come and Get Them" are "Pherto - Parte to" (f??t? - p??te t?) translating as "give it - come and get it". It is said that Leonidas exclaimed Molon labe! when asked by Xerxes to surrender. The opening words of "Returns A King" translate as "I am trembling / I am frightened of / Our returned king".
There exists a normal edition and a deluxe edition containing photos and artwork from the film. The soundtrack debut at #74 on the Billboard Top 200 and rose to #52 in its second week. It has sold 37,638 copies to date.
The song used in the trailers of the movie, Nine Inch Nails's "Just Like You Imagined", is absent from the soundtrack. The song "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse is used in one of the movie's DVD advertisements.
Track listing
"To
Victory" - 2:33
"The Agoge" - 2:24
"The Wolf"
- 2:09
"Returns a King" - 2:23
"Submission" - 2:39
"The Ephors" - 1:58
"Cursed By Beauty" - 1:40
"What
Must a King Do?" - 1:04
"Goodbye My Love" - 3:21
"No
Sleep Tonight" - 2:32
"Tree of the Dead" - 2:23
"The
Hot Gates" - 2:59
"Fight In the Shade" - 3:16
"Come
And Get Them" - 2:04
"No Mercy" - 2:22
"Immortals
Battle" - 1:52
"Fever Dream" - 2:32
"Xerxes' Tent"
- 3:19
"Tonight We Dine In Hell" - 1:13
"The Council Chamber"
- 2:33
"Xerxes' Final Offer" - 2:37
"A God King Bleeds"
- 2:16
"Glory" - 1:43
"Message For the Queen" - 2:30
"Remember Us" - 2:56
"To Victory" (Philip Steir's
Sacrifice for Sparta Remix) - 5:32 (iTunes Bonus track)
Plot
A Spartan named Dilios narrates of the young Leonidas undergoing his childhood training, explaining the rigors of Spartan life. Leonidas is cast out into the wild, and survives the harsh winter to return to his home, when he is crowned King. Dilios then tells the story of the Persian messengers arriving at Sparta and demanding Sparta's submission to King Xerxes. Outraged and offended at their behavior, King Leonidas kicks the messenger into a pit; the other messengers suffer the same fate. Resolving to face the Persians, Leonidas visits the Oracle, proposing a strategy to repel the numerically superior enemy, and offers the priests a customary payment in gold. The priests, called Ephors, having already been bribed by Xerxes, interpret the Oracle's message to mean that Sparta should not go to war, so as to not interrupt the sacred Carneian festival.
eDespite the warning,
Leonidas gathers 300 of his best soldiers to fight the Persians, selecting only
those who have already sired male children, so that their family name can continue
even after their death. As they march north, they are joined by a group of Arcadians
and other Greeks. Arriving at the narrow cliffs of Thermopylae (referred to as
the "Hot Gates"), in sight of the Persian army, they build a wall to
contain the Persians' advance immediately in front of their position. Ephialtes,
a hunchbacked Spartan whose parents had fled to save him from customary infanticide,
approaches Leonidas, requesting to redeem his father's name in battle, and warning
him about a secret goat path that the Persians could use to outflank them, and
surround them. Leonidas turns him away because he is unable to properly hold the
shield, and would therefore create a weak spot in the phalanx.
Before
the battle starts, the Persians ask that the 300 drop their arms. Leonidas responds:
"Persians! Come and get them!" The Spartans use the phalanx formation,
the narrow terrain, and their fighting skill with shield, spear and sword to effectively
fight off numerically superior waves of attackers, driving the regular Persian
infantry off of a cliff and withstanding a cavalry charge without any losses.
Xerxes, impressed after the two armies' first engagement, personally approaches
Leonidas and attempts to bribe him with wealth and power in exchange for his surrender.
The Spartan king declines, saying that he will instead make the "God King"
bleed. The Spartans then face the Immortals, losing a few of their number to the
Persian elite guards but still defeating them, with Leonidas personally killing
the Uber-Immortal. The Spartans prevail over other types of troops from the vast
reaches of the Persian empire, including Mongolian barbarians and their rhinos,
soldiers with explosive grenades, and Indian war elephants. However, their last
victory is overshadowed by the death of Captain Artemis' eldest son Astinos. Two
days after the fighting begins, an embittered Ephialtes reveals the location of
the goat path to Xerxes, having been promised a lucrative and powerful position
in the Persian Empire.
Back in Sparta, Queen Gorgo, upon the advice of a loyal councilman, attempts to enlist the influential Theron to help her persuade the Spartan council to send reinforcements to Leonidas. Theron agrees to help, but demands that Gorgo submit sexually to him; Gorgo reluctantly consents to his advances. Meanwhile, the Greeks realize that Ephialtes has betrayed them, and the Arcadians decide to retreat in the face of certain death. The Spartans refuse to follow, obedient to their law. Leonidas orders only one man, Dilios, to retreat and use his rhetorical skills to tell the story of the 300 to the Spartan people, ensuring that they be remembered. Dilios reluctantly leaves with the Arcadians. At Sparta, Queen Gorgo appears in front of the council, but is not supported by Theron, who furthermore accuses her of adultery. The Queen, enraged at this betrayal, snatches a sword from a nearby soldier and kills Theron. When Persian coins fall from his purse, the Council denounces him as a traitor and unites against Persia.
At Thermopylae, the Persians have surrounded the 300 on all sides. Xerxes's general demands their surrender, saying that Leonidas may keep his title as King of Sparta and become warlord of all Greece, answerable only to Xerxes. Ephialtes begs him to do so as well; Leonidas quips back "may you live forever" (the ultimate Spartan insult, as they wish to die in battle). After feinting submission Leonidas orders his man to cut down the general, causing Xerxes to order his troops to attack. The remaining Spartans are killed in the hail of arrows; Leonidas finally falls, but not before delivering on his promise to "make the 'God King' bleed", wounding him on the cheek with a thrown spear. The Persian king is visibly shaken by this reminder of his own mortality. Dilios eventually returns to Sparta and inspires the council with the bravery of the 300.
Dilios finishes his tale on a new battlefield surrounded by raptly listening soldiers. He concludes that the Persian army, who lost countless numbers defeating a mere 300 Spartans a year earlier, must now be terrified to face 10,000 Spartans and 30,000 Greeks from the other city-states. The roused Greek host charges the Persian army, beginning the Battle of Plataea.
300 has been spoofed
in various media, spawning the "this is Sparta!" internet meme, with
parodies also appearing in film and television. These include the short United
300, which won the Movie Spoof Award at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Skits based
upon the film have appeared on Saturday Night Live and Robot Chicken, the latter
of which mimicked the visual style of 300 in a parody set during the American
Revolutionary War, titled "1776".
20th Century Fox is planning a 2008 release of Meet the Spartans, a spoof of 300 and Stomp the Yard, among others. Universal Studios is planning a similar parody, titled National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas.
300 was also parodied in an episode of South Park named "D-Yikes!" .
300's director Zack Snyder stated in an MTV interview that "The events are 90 percent accurate. It's just in the visualization that it's crazy.... I've shown this movie to world-class historians who have said it's amazing. They can't believe it's as accurate as it is." He continues that the film is "an opera, not a documentary. That's what I say when people say it's historically inaccurate".[74] However he is quoted in a BBC News story that the film is, at its core "a fantasy film." He also describes the film's narrator, Dilios, as "a guy who knows how not to wreck a good story with truth."
Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History at Cambridge University, advised the filmmakers on the pronunciation of Greek names, and states that they "made good use" of his published work on Sparta. He praises the film for its portrayal of "the Spartans' heroic code," and of "the key role played by women in backing up, indeed reinforcing, the male martial code of heroic honor," while expressing reservations about its "'West' (goodies) vs 'East' (baddies) polarization." Cartledge writes that he enjoyed the film, although he found Leonidas' description of the Athenians as "boy lovers" ironic, given his views on the institutional pederasty of the Spartan educational system.
Ephraim Lytle, assistant professor of Hellenistic History at the University of Toronto, states that 300 selectively idealizes Spartan society in a "problematic and disturbing" fashion, as well as portraying the "hundred nations of the Persians" as monsters and non-Spartan Greeks as weak. He suggests that the film's moral universe would have seemed as "bizarre to ancient Greeks as it does to modern historians."
Victor Davis Hanson, formerly professor of Classical history at California State University, Fresno, who wrote the foreword to a 2007 re-issue of the graphic novel, states that the film demonstrates a specific affinity with the original material of Herodotus in that it captures the martial ethos of ancient Sparta and represents Thermopylae as a "clash of civilizations". He remarks that Simonides, Aeschylus and Herodotus viewed Thermopylae as a battle against "Eastern centralism and collective serfdom", which opposed "the idea of the free citizen of an autonomous polis". He further states that the film portrays the battle in a "surreal" manner, and that the intent was to "entertain and shock first, and instruct second."
Touraj
Daryaee, associate professor of Ancient History at California State University,
Fullerton, criticizes the central theme of the movie, that of "free"
and "democracy loving" Spartans against "slave" Persians.
Daryaee states that the Achaemenid (Persian) empire hired and paid people regardless
of their sex or ethnicity, whereas in fifth-century Athens "less than 14%"
of the population participated in democratic government, and "nearly 37%"
of the population were slaves. He further states that Sparta "was a militaristic
monarchy with a council of elders which decided political matters, but it was
not a democracy."
Animation
- Comedy - Crime
- Documentary
-
Family - Foreign
Language - Historical
- Horror - Musical
- Political
Recommended- Romance- Science Fiction and Fantasy - Sport Movies -- Thriller - War - Western - Wildlife
A map of where different US films & TV programmes blanket across the USA are
ZANADU - A FUN BASED SITE, WITH SOME FILM RELATED SECTIONS
Flight Las Vegas Nevada - Find a flight to Las Vegas
Cheap flights Beijing - Get your tickets here Fly to Beijing
Bank Interest Rates - A Website on Bank Interest Rates
Car Cheap Insurance - Get Cheap Car Insurance from here
Flights London - Want to fly to or Visit London get your Flight and Hotel place here
Get
your fave music here for your IPOD
Buy DVD Rent DVD Get your DVDs from here