An animated film ’Iranian’ is being produced in response to the insulting Hollywood movie ’300’ which was aimed at distorting historical facts.
Directed by Reza Ahmad-Yari, the film depicts the conflicts between Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, and Ario Barzan, the Persian satrap and military commander, IRNA reported.
“It is in its final stage of production and will be completed soon,“ said the director.
’300’ is inspired by the graphic novel ’300’ by Frank Miller, itself a loose adaptation of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
In this movie, the Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans allegedly fight against more than one million soldiers of Xerxes, the Persian Achaemenid emperor.
The movie, presenting an ugly image of the Persians, raised the objection of historians and cultural heritage experts when it was premiered in 2007.
Should be interesting..sounds like it should be about the struggle at the Persian Gates. I'm curious how it will be a response to "300". I am sympathetic to the Persian unhappiness of how they were depicted by the film and comic.
An animated film ’Iranian’ is being produced in response to the insulting Hollywood movie ’300’ which was aimed at distorting historical facts.
Hmm, not sure about "aimed at distorting" facts. This smacks of the propaganda machine working.
Obviously, historical facts only formed the basis for the story, but to suggest that "300" was a deliberate anti-Iranian film, which the phraseology suggests, is a bit much.
Still, that aside it will be interesting to know what happens with this new film. It would certainly be a goodie, if made well - it is, after all, Thermopylae in reverse ...
I thought this interview with Paul Cartledge about '300' was quite interesting. I came across him first in his book about Alexander but he is actually a Sparta expert. To me, seems to be distancing himself a little from his role as historical adviser in this movie. I have also come across a radio interview with Frank Miller about the movie - the guy who drew the comic - but this site is much too nice to link to that stuff... So, we'll stick to Cartledge.
"Q. Can you say anything about your contact with the filmmakers? Can you say how much interest they had in recreating the time period?
A: The filmmakers seem to have read my extensive published work — for example, The Spartans (2004) — and made good use of it. But I was consulted formally only over the question of how to pronounce ancient Greek names — for example, should 'Leonidas' be LeonEYEdas, LeONNidas, or LeonEEdas?
I advised LeonEEdas, but they went for LeonEYEdas, so you can see how influential I was (not).
Q. Are there any other key points about the movie or the battle you think are worth making to our readers?
A: Nothing to add — except a caveat about black and white, 'West' (goodies) vs 'East' (baddies) polarization (taken directly from Miller's original cartoon series — he was the movie's principal consultant). It's never a good thing to do that, I think, and least of all now!"
marcus wrote:Obviously, historical facts only formed the basis for the story...
As raised plywood forms the basis for a decent elephant "walk". It was an abysmal travesty of history. It should have been made as a Japanese animation so as to be taken as seriously as it deserved.
The Gree...sorry, SPARTANS!, were heroes; the Persians an ignorant, half civilsed polyglot of unremittingly black (or otherwise dark) "others" adorned with a million talents of metal studs, piercings and earings driving beasts from the depths of Tolkien's Mordor.
It was, to me, a sorry rendering of the tale. It did not, in my view, miss its mark in painting a neat black v white portrayal of east invades west. It deserves the response it seemingly is getting.
Paralus
Ἐπὶ τοὺς πατέρας, ὦ κακαὶ κεφαλαί, τοὺς μετὰ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τὰ ὅλα κατειργασμένους;
Wicked men, you sin against your fathers, who conquered the whole world under Philip and Alexander.
