Watched "300" with my friend-- reluctantly at first, but I left the cinema a very satisfied man. It was an aesthetically beautiful movie. I was awed by the directing techniques, the beautiful sceneries, and the wonderful narration. The lighting, the effect, and the atmosphere the director is able to bring out add points.
There was gore and violence, but it's not anything that I cannot handle, even though I don't watch gore movies at all. So here you actually sees the superb skills of the director.
The story of 300 soldiers fighting against a huge empire single-handedly for the name of "Freedom" isn't exactly a new concept. Reminds me of 《墨攻》by Andy Lau. I found myself thinking about the purpose of making these films-- purely for entertainment? Or is someone, some... thing, trying to send a message across?
But the real reason I love the movie so is the question that was raised:
If the God that you worship, the very Law that you abides by, forbid you to do what you should do... what will you do?
As the King, abiding by the Law keeps the country in order, paying respect to the God the people worship means respecting the people. If you disregard these, will the people still respect you?
This was no question to the Spartan King: God is God, Law is Law; But freedom is above all of these, and as the King to the people, he has only one duty-- to protect the people he had sworn to serve and protect.
If only all politicians have this mentality. The Spartan King decided to fight. A small part of it may be for honour and pride, but his main reason for fighting was to protect his love ones: his wife, his friends, his people.
Am I getting patriotic over here? It's so American way, y'know? "For Freedom! For Justice!" Yadda-yadda. Blah blah blah.
It's an M18 film. So people under 18 are missing out on a good story. Yeah, that's exactly what it is-- a good story. When you see people dying for their ideology, you cannot help but be touched.
