Iranians view the Achaemenid empire as a particularly noble page in their history and cannot understand why it has been singled out for such shoddy cinematic treatment, as the populace here perceives it, with the Persians in rags and its Great King practically naked. The Achaemenid kings, who built their majestic capital at Persepolis, were exceptionally munificent for their time. They wrote the world's earliest recorded human rights declaration, and were opposed to slavery. Cuneiform plates show that Persepolis was built by paid staff rather than slaves. And any Iranian child who has visited Persepolis can tell you that its preserved relief’s depict court dress of velvet robes, and that if anyone was wearing rags around 500 B.C., it wasn't the Persians.
It is going to take an act of foolhardy courage to distribute that film in Iran. It will truly be 70 million against 300.
posted
Greek critics lash Hollywood's ancient epic International Herald Tribune 13/3/2007
ATHENS, Greece: Greek critics on Thursday lashed "300," a Hollywood recreation of the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas of Sparta held back a massive Persian military invasion, leading to its eventual defeat.
The movie — an adaptation of artist Frank Miller's graphic novel — opens in Greece on Friday and will show at 70 screens in greater Athens.
The popular Athinorama magazine described the film to a "bloodlust videogame."
Daily Ta Nea newspaper gave Zack Snyder's "300" zero out of 10, with critic Dimitris Danikas claiming the film even carried a message about the U.S. war on terror.
"By ancient Persia, they refer to modern Iran — whose soldiers are portrayed as bloodthirsty, underdeveloped zombies," he wrote. "They are stroking racist instincts in Europe and America."
Robby Eksiel, at the daily Ethnos, said moviegoers would be dazzled by the "digital action" but irritated by the "pompous interpretations and one-dimensional characters."
Greece's critics were similarly scathing about other recent movies depicting ancient battles, like Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy" and Oliver Stone's "Alexander" in 2004.
It's a pattern that disappointed Panayiotis Timoyiannakis, the lone voice of support among critics here for "300"
"This is not a university lecture, it's a movie," he wrote in the daily Eleftheros Typos. "It's an adaptation of a comic to the big screen, and that's only how it should be judged ... When seen this way, it gets high marks."
The Warner Bros. movie, the story of vastly outnumbered Spartans defending against Persian invaders, shot past the $100 million mark after just a week in theaters, bringing its total to $127.5 million.
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posted
The Iranian elites naturally see it as a propaganda tool to de-humanize them, particularly given the geopolitical tensions between them and the folks in Washington. But who could blame them; I'm sure if the Iranians made a movie that is perceived as portraying American figures in bad light, someone in the U.S. media won't hesitate to make it known.
In fact, at one time in one TV news outlet in the U.S., I believe it was Fox, where a news anchor denounced the Iranian TV for showing cartoons with extreme violence. Now of course, the anchors of this station forgot that the U.S. film industry and outlets like cable TV have and continue to show movies, programs, and yes, including cartoons, with extreme violent content, not to mention obscene scenes (in terms of foul language and nudity) not generally ideal for much younger audiences.
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