What I say about 300 – Part 3

And so the battle began. Wave after wave of Persians charged, Spartans holding their line and discipline. The huge number of Persians narrows into the foot of the cliff (scenes of the wolf and boy appear). No weapons were drawn yet, no bloodshed, merely shoving.

At the Captain’s command, Spartan spears forcefully thrust into the Persian front line. Row by row, the Persians fall, till the number was small enough for the Spartans to charge out. Driving them to the edge of a cliff, overlooking the Malian Gulf, the Persians have only 2 choices, to jump to his death, or die fighting. With the many beheadings and slashing and spearing, the bare bodies of the Spartans on the contrary were not bloodied at all. To say the least, I was very disappointed with the fact that such details were left out. Not that I like looking at blood, but it was just unrealistic. Furthermore, the Spartans were without breast plates. Leaving such details out is very appalling.

The story then goes back to Thermopylae. Predictably, Gorgo would be dishonored by Theron in her bid to gain the favor of the council to send reinforcements to her beloved…….Well, justice was still served as Gorgo killed Theron when he betrayed her. As Theron fell to the ground, Persian gold spilled, and the council convinced.

Back to the battlefield. Clumsy elephants, charging rhinoceros screeching to a halt right at the foot of Leonidas after a spear was hurled and embed in its skull. Sounds familiar or predictable? This movie has no novelty. Even if these scenes were originally written in this novel and someone had copied it for other movies, at least make it different.

Then there are the legendary Immortals. Again, these people were lepers, rotting flesh and skin behind the silver masks. The Immortals seemed to be just like any Persian army killed earlier. Is the movie suggesting that the Spartans and Arcadians were just to good or the Immortals were just ordinary? Besides, 300 did not even bother to study the details of what weapons and uniform the Immortals bore. In my opinion, the superior fighting skills of the Immortals were blunted by the narrow passage, so they fared no better than the previous waves of Persian hordes.

Captain’s son was slain, driving him into a state of madness……

As reports of Ephialtes revealing a path to the rear of the Greek army (in return for women and wealth), the Arcadians decided to take no further part in the war. Dilios was sent back to bear testimony of the sacrifice that the 298 + 1.

In their last stand, Xerxes again offered Leonidas wealth in return of the latter’s surrender. Leonidas dropped his bronze helmet, followed by his aspis and knelt before Xerxes. As he was seemingly dropping his spear, after repeated demands from a Persian general, Leonidas hurled his spear at Xerxes, narrowly missing his head but left a scar on his right cheek. Incest with Leonidas’ response, Xerxes ordered his army to destroy Leonidas and his 298 Spartan. Shower of arrows pouring in, killing all……..

As Leonidas breathed his last breathed and muttering of honor to die and fight with his captain blah blah, scenes of a grass field with Gorgo appeared. What apparently that looks like Leonidas has reach paradise and his wife (wait a minute, how did she die? Anyway looks like Gladiator) waiting for him….No it is actually Dilios conveying the message….

Yeah, so the sacrifice of 299 + 1 gave enough time for Greece to raise and army.

Verdict

Uninteresting movie. Poor emphasis on details.

Good attempt to depict the history of Battle of Thermopylae, but poor depiction of characters.

What I say about 300 – Part 2

With the help of his Captain (played by Vincent Regan), his army of 300 march of to meet the Persian horde. The captain’s son is amongst the 300. The 300 must meet a few criteria to qualify for this mission: Already a father with son(s) and has a brother as a sibling, I presume to continue the family line. As the Spartans travel, they stumbled upon a village ravaged by a Persian scouting party. To emphasize the brutality of the Persians, scenes of mutilated people and horses appeared. Out of nowhere, a silhouette of a young boy, his snow white skin surfaces (portraying his innocence) beneath the traditional white Greek cloak, as he appear from the shadows. Bludgeoned on the head, with blood streaming from the wound, he made his way almost instinctively to the king, before he predictably collapse into the arms of the king. Muttering something before his soul sapped out of his lifeless body. Scenes of dead villagers striped and hung all over a tree....artistic or gruesome? (I meant the way they arranged the people.)

This would then inadvertently give the Spartans motivation and cause for revenge and satisfying their blood lust. So the strategy was to fend off the waves of Persian attack at a narrow path at the foot of 2 cliffs, where massive numbers count for nothing. (Sound familiar?) Though a seemingly good strategy, the “holy ones” would hear nothing of it. As they are leaving the village, a hideous looking “creature” was spotted on a hill top close by. “He’s been following us for some time” muttered the captain. Well, the creature apparently is a deformed baby not “discarded” by his parents. His father was a Spartan warrior, loyal to the country, but exiled with his wife and son to prevent condemnation from the people. Dressed in the velvet of Spartans, wielding a Spartan shield and spear, he sought an audience with the king. Shall name him Ephialtes, as the way he moved aws similar to that of LOTR, but he looks more like Quasi-modo of Hunchback of Notre Dame. The king permitted Ephialtes to talk much to the disgust of the captain. In actual records, he was just a commoner.

The king questioned Ephialtes of his background, and Ephialtes emotionally explained his purpose to redeem his father’s honor for deserting Sparta to protect his life. Ephialtes then proceeded to demonstrate his mastery in using the spear, thrusting it like a true Spartan. Seemingly impressed, Leonidas probably had a dilemma, had to find a cause to reject Ephialtes. So Leonidas asked Ephialtes to raise his shield. As hard as he tried, Leonidas would not want to have a weak link in shielding from arrows – according to the Persian messenger, “so many arrows that it will block the daylight” and Leonidas arrogantly rebuffed “We will then seek shelter”. He has the right to be cocky, as the Spartan warriors have developed a method to defend from downpour of arrows using the Spartan shields and defending as a unit. If one man is careless or could not hold the shield, leaving a gap, the whole group will be vulnerable, thus Ephialtes cannot play an integral part of his 300 strong.

The king then left Ephialtes alone in his pitiable state, cursing his parents into leading him to be believe that the king would accept him. Predictably, Ephialtes would take his revenge…..

It would be quite impossible if only 300 Spartans were to fend off the massive Persian horde. Sensibly, the story brings in 700 Arcadians, led by Daxos. Apparently, Daxos was appalled by the puny number of Spartans drafted into this war. So he sneered Leonidas “ You brought only 300 soldiers”. Leonidas, full of pride, randomly picked a few Arcadians and asked them their profession. One say a potter, another a blacksmith etc. “So who brought more soldiers?” Well humorous as it is, it is one of the many ironies in the movie.

As they march on together as fellow Greeks, they tracked the scouting party. A Persian officer, wielding a 20 feet whip, stood on an elaborate pyramid shaped carriage, shouldered by hundreds of slaves. Barking orders, and never hesitate to give the whip, much to the angst of the Greeks. They are determined not to end up slaves.

Dressed as slaves, building a wall made of rocks and Persians as mortar, the Greeks rejected the demand of the officer to yield. Instead, a Spartan leapt further than any long jumper seen in Olympics, and cut off the arm of the officer before the whip could hit him. And back to the foot of the cliffs where they will make their stand.

What I say about 300 – Part 1

300 to begin with do not sound that catchy or enticing. The only thing that led me to catch this movie on a late Friday night was the setting of the movie itself. Movies involving medieval warfare (especially the Crusades & European quest for supremacy) , or in this case ancient Greek, Roman warfare and American Civil Wars have always enticed me. To name some:

"Gladiator",
"Joan of Arc",
"Kingdom of Heaven",
maybe "Troy"......(Wanted to add Alexander in because of the great performance by Colin Farrell)
"Glory" - Denzel Washington rocks,
"Dances with Wolves" - Kevin Costner,
"Last of the Mohicans"
"Spartacus"
"Ben Hur"
"Jason & the Arganouts"

It is a movie that many say trying hard to keep to the 1998 graphic novel (Frank Miller) of the same title.

Well the story begins with a half blind Spartan general - Dilios giving a pre-war "morale boosting" pep talk, which has become a ubiquitous occurrence, since I do not know when (probably since Braveheart if I am not wrong). The pep-talk is the story of the movie – of the sacrifice of 299 Spartan warriors and their King, King Leonidas (not 300 because Dilios was ordered to return to Thermopylae to bear testimony to the Greeks of the sacrifice made).

The story flashes back to the brutal laws imposed on the Thermopylaen people. The law that legalize and “accelerate” natural selection, forced parents to “discard “(as quoted from the movie) infants with defects in the most unhumanely way possible by today’s standards. Though you might say that it is relatively rare to have infants with natural deformities (exclude those exposed to napalm, radiation or other unnatural agents), it is very common in those ages as incest is predominant. Incest, according to Greek and Roman academics and royalties at that time will produce heirs of pure royal blood, not tainted by commoners. For those you survived, they have to undergo a vigorous training in armed combat and brutality, very much alike to the movie Soldier – starring Kurt Russell, at a very young age, to the mothers’ despair.The Spartan boy is then thrown in the wilderness with nothing but a spear and little clothing to survive. Then there’s the scene of the wolf and the boy……..and so on, killing the wolf at a tight path between cliffs where “bigger size counts for nothing”. However King would however be slightly more fortunate as he gets to train and be with his son. There are scenes of brutality between father and son, where then king-to be, Prince Leonidas was smacked hard till he bleeds when he makes a mistake. The movie however do not depict only brutality, the fact that after each grueling session, the father, now fast forwarded to the time when Leonidas is king and a father himself, embracing his son lovingly.

The family moment was then interrupted by the Head of Greek Council, Theron announcing the arrival of a Persian messenger. The Persians are portrayed in the movie as bloodthirsty brutal slave drivers. If you think that the Spartans are portrayed as barbaric, the Persians were portrayed as less civilized to that of the Greeks. The Persians at the time was known as a conquering nation, enslaving Egypt and, Xerxes son of Darius rules the Persian Empire. Accounts of Xerxes are found mainly in Biblical contexts, which did not suggest clearly the Persian (known as Saracens by the medieval period) culture of that time. What was portrayed in the movie was the imagination of Frank Miller, believed to be the opinions of the “superior” culture of the Europeans at the time – though not that rampant till the early AD periods.

The main purpose of the house call was three words: “Earth and Water”. As simple was the message that Leonidas wrongfully rebuked, the meaning of the words was very profound, with unimaginable consequences – and Lenidas knows it. What Xerxes was asking from Leonidas were merely tributes. All Leonidas had to do to keep his position of wealth, power and authority, answerable only to Xerxes, was to pay tribute and bow to Xerxes – to treat him as a God-king which is what the Persian perceive him as. Of course King Leonidas and Queen Gorgo were against the idea, as they want to be free people, (ironically, they made so many nations a colony under their rule). Queen Gorgo then voiced her displeasure of such demands and proclaimed that a Spartan woman had a right to voice her concerns amongst men, much to the err of the messenger, who then threatened to turn Spartan children, women and elderly into slaves after killing all the men of viable age. Being slaves at that meant sexual and physical abuses, which Leonidas could not bear to let it happen to his family.

As the messenger/ emissary demanded Leonidas and his men to lay down arms, Leonidas replied " Come and get them", which became a very famous line for many.

His solution, do away (against messenger protocols – as if barbarians will honor protocols) with the Persian messengers and his escorts, pushing them into a pit of endless depth, in a CGI sort of choreography, made popular by the Matrix trilogy. That is a message of war to Xerxes. Before going for war, Leonidas has to seek blessings and permission from the Oracle, run by few corrupt lepers in hoods. It seems that to qualify as a sage or a holy person, one must be cursed with this disease. The Greek Gods will only speak through a beautiful adolescent, (so called a curse for being beautiful). The young girl will speak in ancient Latin, the “holy ones” will interpret. Well, since Xerxes has already bribed the “holy ones” through Theron in gold coins obtained from the vast taxes and tributes accumulated from the Persian Empire, there will only be one result – Submit.

Leaving dejected, Queen Gorgo tried her best to encourage him. “What should a free man do?” Profound in meaning, it stirred up sheer grit and determination in Leonidas’ heart. So Leonidas gathered his personal guards, 300 strong Spartan warriors, best the city has to offer, on a mission to keep Thermopylae a free place against the consent of Theron. The council has yet to give consent, but Leonidas has other ideas. He needs to act fast to halt the onslaught of the massive Persian army. Time was not a luxury he can afford, so he can only use the 300 guards, which are not under the command of the council but himself.

300 versus 100 000?

To be continued…..

JPMorgan Chase Run

Taking part in the JPMorgan Chase Run
Crap, haven't run cross country for a long time
Used to finish 4.8 km in 22 mins. That was hmm....6 yrs ago?
Now, to finish 5.6 km, probably will take more than 30 mins.
Hai....what did I get myself into

Anyway, a possibility that I will be in Brisbane in the coming months
Probably for 3 to 4 months.
Definitely happy for my own career advancement
Hopefully, it doesn't clash with my plans with teh
Right now, is to find out when I am going
then only can know when to buy house
Dun want to leave the planning burden for teh to carry alone
What's more, planning together is fun....

Anyway, just completed my short involvement in the UP DBOO NEWater project...
Membranes are way simpler compared to the conventional treatment.
Calculations and designs are fairly similar,
Optimizing is the main challenge.....little changes means a lot
The other challenge is to understand all the electrical jargons and functions of those components,
So that I can implement it in design
At least the mechanical terms are easier to understand and "master"
Anyway.... looking forward for things to come

Bloody chatterbox...always bad ID. Dun really need it though. Just for teh to put her words in.