After Much Chewing of Cud and Cogitation, "Docrodile"
<swampthing@hellsbayou.net> Spat the Words
Iran sees red over bloody Hollywood film
FREDRIK DAHL IN TEHRAN
Wed 14 Mar 2007
IRAN has denounced Hollywood's latest blockbuster film, depicting the
480BC battle between the Persian army and a band of Greeks.
Last week's American opening of 300, while Tehran is embroiled in a
stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme, led Iran and its
film
fans to see the movie as a western effort to vilify their nation through
history.
3 million persians against 5,000 greeks (and the greeks end up
winning). Those persians MUST be complete imbeciles.
The carnage-filled film, which stars the Scottish actor Gerard Butler,
took an estimated $70 million (£36 million) at the box office in its
first
three days - a US record for a March release, said the film's
distributor,
Warner Bros.
But Iranians were clearly offended at the way their ancestors were
portrayed in the film, inspired by the tale of 300 Spartans under King
Leonidas who held out at Thermopylae against a Persian invasion led by
Xerxes.
The government, MPs and Iranian weblogs attacked the film, which depicts
the Persian army as ruthless but repeatedly outsmarted by the Greeks,
who
were defeated in the end only by treachery.
Even though the film, directed by the American Zack Snyder, has only
just
hit cinemas in the United States, poor-quality pirated copies are
already
available in Tehran.
This should be a good lesson to the Iranians about what a
superior health club membership and electrolysis facility
can do for you.
Gholamhossein Elham, a government spokesman, branded the film an insult
against Iran, where the first Persian empire emerged to become the
world's
most powerful in the sixth century BC, before it was conquered by
Alexander the Great two centuries later.
"Not only would no nation or government accept this, but it would also
consider it as hostile behaviour which is the result of cultural and
psychological warfare," he said.
Four MPs urged Manouchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister, and Mohammad
Hossein Saffar-Harandi, the culture and Islamic guidance minister, to
ask
other Muslim countries not to show "this anti-Iranian Hollywood" film.
Iranians take great pride in their history and the empire they founded
and
any perceived slight against that heritage often sparks criticism across
the political and social spectrum.
An Iranian-circulated petition against the film on the internet said the
film was both "fraudulent and distorted".
"It is a proven scholarly fact that the Persian Empire in 480BC was the
most magnificent and civilised empire," the protest letter addressed to
the film-makers said. Western historians have often said the battle was
the first major conflict between the East and the ancient Greek city
states, seen as the cradle for Western values.
In contrast to the angry reaction in Iran, 300 has earned largely
positive
reviews in North America, despite or because of its decapitations and
battlefield carnage.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=398732007
This is sort of a remake of The 300 Spartans, starring Richard Egan as
Sparta King Leonidas, made in 1962. I really liked the original flick
because it was interesting to see the clever military tactics used to
keep
a much larger number of Persians frustrated, as they repeatedly attacked
the doomed group. Ironically, it came out in a dangerous Cold War year,
which saw the USSR and US bang heads over nuke missiles deployed in
Cuba.
This year's tension is rising in the Gulf, partly over Iran's interest
in
nukes, and with...of all people, the modern counterpart of the ancient
Persians. Spartans was the name of my junior high school's sports
teams.
Later, it was the Trojans in high school (ridiculed due to their poor
showing and allusions to a popular condom).
Rousing dialogue from the 1962 movie --
Xerxes, Persian King: It was my father's dream. One world, one master.
But to Marathon ten years ago he sent a mere wave. I am leading an
ocean!
Hydarnes, Commander of the Immortals: [Xerxes has sent an emissary to
demand the Spartan surrender] yesterday, we only probed your positions.
When we attack today, our arrows will blot out the sun!
Leonidas, Spartan King: Good; then we will fight in the shade.
Leonidas, Spartan King: Why were you not in council?
Agathon the Spartan Spy: Because I'm not a good liar. I don't want to
frighten them.
Leonidas, Spartan King: Then the army is as enormous as they say?
Agathon the Spartan Spy: Leonidas, it is bigger than anything you can
imagine. For six days, I watched them pass. Six days! I ran out of
numbers
and still more of them came. They're drinking the rivers dry. And at
night
there are more of their campfires than there are stars in the sky!
Leonidas, Spartan King: Good. When I was a boy, I always wanted to reach
the stars with my spear.
Docrodile ;))
I
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