The astronaut farmer trailer hd

The astronaut farmer trailer hd

But there was hope that the advance of the Germans could be slowed in order to complete the evacuation of Athens by British and Greek forces. A small, determined band of ANZAC soldiers stationed themselves around the pass at Thermopylae, and for two days managed to slow the German advance, thereby permitting the successful evacuation of Athens. These brave Australians and New Zealanders escaped the Spartans fate, and lived on to fight again another day. The sacrifice of the Spartans at Thermopylae was commemorated in an epigram of the astronaut farmer trailer hd ancient Greek poet Simonides: Go, stranger, and tell the Spartans that we lie here, obedient to their command. In 1955 the Greek Archaeological Service dedicated a plaque bearing Simonides words at the crest of a small hillock in the pass where Leonidas and his band probably made their last stand. A wonderful story, to be sure, and fit for re-telling, which in modern times means film. In 1962, The 300 Spartans was released, featuring a very buff Richard Egan as Leonidas. Although it suffered from many of the flaws of the worst sword-and-sandal epics of that era, it attempted to recreate faithfully the politics, diplomacy, and military events that actually were part of the Thermopylae story. Now we have 300, a truly modern bit of movie-making that combines live actors playing against a digitized background. To judge this films adherence to historical fact insofar as we understand it is to do it a disservice, for the film does not even pretend to be historically accurate. It is based on a graphic novel developed by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, whose previous credits are mainly as comic book and the astronaut farmer trailer hd novel writers and illustrators. This film version of Miller and Varleys graphic novel is the inspiration of director and co-writer Zack Snyder, who is said to have been deeply moved both by his childhood viewing of the 1962 The 300 Spartans and by the Miller-Varley graphic novel. Millers influence on Snyder appears to be profound. In the on-line production notes for the film Snyder is quoted as saying Frank took an actual event and turned it into mythology, as opposed to taking a mythological event and turning it the astronaut farmer trailer hd reality. That vision clearly absolves the filmmaker from any pretense of historical accuracy. In brief, this is a comic book version of Thermopylae writ large, utilizing all of the tricks of virtual reality and digitized magic. This film is not even science fiction, a genre based on an extension of reality. In fact, 300 is one step removed from sci-fi: it is fantasy. In a recent review of Oliver Stones Alexander epic, I suggested that there was a difference between historical inaccuracies based on ignorance and sloppy research, and deviations from historical accuracy based upon the film makers artistic vision: 300 falls into the latter category. Leonidas motivation is not credible, even in a comic book. The actual Spartan stand at Thermopylae as a delaying action is both credible and historical. But, for devotees of historical nitpicking: a few nits. There is no attempt to explain the complex issues faced by the Greek city-states confronting the Persian advance. Leonidas is portrayed as intending to take his 300 Spartans up to Thermopylae in order to defeat the Persians and fight for freedom. Setting aside the simple-minded ideology about liberty, reason, and justice like other Greeks, the Spartans themselves had a long history of attempting to coerce if not actually enslave other peoples when it suited their interests, it is ludicrous to suggest that a great Spartan general like Leonidas would believe that 300 men could thwart the advance of tens-perhaps hundreds-of thousands of Asian troops. Leonidas motivation is not credible, even in a comic book. The actual Spartan stand at Thermopylae as a delaying action is both credible and historical. The portrayal of the fighting is a mixed bag. The filmmakers decided to pare down the Spartan uniforms to their essential and symbolic features: helmet, cape, shield, greaves, and weapons. The result is heroic imagery, hoplites dressed in leather thongs and fighting without body armor. No Greek warrior would ever have stepped into battle without some sort of chest protector. But the fighting itself is dramatically portrayed. The actors had been well trained and the fight scenes carefully choreographed. Much has been made of the graphic violence-lots of spurting blood and decapitations-but I did not find this offensive or disturbing. It was all a product of the coordination between cinematographers and a sophisticated visual effects department, highly influenced by the graphic novel. Aside from some improbable feats of derring-do, the film portrayed the chaos and horror of close-combat infantry clashes with an approximation of reality not mentioned much by the writers of antiquity, but described so well by classicist Victor Davis Hanson in his 1989 book, The Western Way of War, Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. Details aside, one cannot help but admire the impressive technical achievement of this film.