"Return with your shield or on it!"
That was the urging given by the wife of King Leonidas, one time king of Sparta and a hero who led 300 men to face-off against the almighty god-king Xerxes the Great of Persia and his one million soldiers. Well at least that's what happened in the movie 300 which I just caught this morning.
I normally do not blog about movies. Somehow though, this one caught my fancy. Yeah, I know. The critics have said that "300" was all about testerone-fuelled blood, gore and lots of masculine masochism. I have never seen so many lobotomies in movies! Still, I found it highly entertaining and certainly a fabulous visual feast. The CGIs and rendering of the environments were pretty awesome.
There was something about the whole culture and society of the Spartans which intrigued me. How weak or sickly looking baby boys were left to perish. How 7-year-olds were enlisted to the Spartan army and kept there until the age of 35. And also how they had to go through a punishing process in their early teens out in the wild and to slay wild carnivores like wolves and other denizens of the forest. Or to steal for their food and not be caught stealing. The punishment for being caught was flogging - not so much because of the crime but because they can't do it well enough to escape being caught!
Maybe its the sense of escapism which the movie conveys? Maybe its the fact that them Spartans had it a lot harder than us Singaporeans? Or perhaps its just the need to let one's hair down and be silly once in a while?
Anyway, here are some of the other quotable quotes from the movie for all your epic movie lovers:
"Tonight, we dine in Hell!"
"Never retreat and never surrender!"
"For glory for Sparta!"
Labels: 300, movies, Sparta, weekend
