Kitne aadmi the re?
Hujoor teen sau.
Ye teen sau aur who dus lakh?
Bahut nainsaafi hai……
Injustice? You must be kidding. Spartans were people for whom the ultimate glory was to die in the battlefield. When someone tries to scare them with impending death they grin maniacally and tell us all about the greatness of being Spartan. Children who are born defective are discarded – inappropriate fodder after all to the juggernaut of war that Sparta sought actively and trained for.
The thrill of being a man can now be had vicariously at a multiplex near you. Munch your popcorn and watch the MEN do their thing. Thrust spears into the enemies hearts(and everywhere else), lop off heads, thump them dead with the weight of their shields - and all this by men whose chiselled bodies do the above mentioned things in thrilling poses reminiscent of beautiful paintings. Apparently they are there to protect their freedom. Now freedom is a many-splendoured thing. It causes brave countries to own oil-rich countries while going about their holy business of looking for WMD, it causes still others to dedicate their own lives and generations of their kids to the cause of jehad. Idealistic people – and if the Spartans had them, so do we.
This movie is therefore designed to understand the need to be hard and strong(repeated for proper emphasis in the film) in a world where the only admirable thing is the ability to take as many down as you can. If it satisfies your atavistic need to spill other people’s blood, good. The women are all very sacrificing and understanding of the need to rear children for the war machine. “No mercy” is a motivating and remorselessly chanted roar that apparently is meant to thrill the viewer. So are testosterone laden phrases like take no prisoners. This movie is really so full of it – if you miss it in the world around you today, go see this inspiring movie. If nothing else you might like to do a copy of those incredible six-packs featured endlessly.
Unlike many of the slick movies made today however, this film is happily stupid. It honestly believes that showing gore is a good enough reason to make a film and feels no shame in doing that. The Kill Bill types will be way up there not only as gore fests but as intelligently designed stories. I left 10 mts after the interval. Believe me the promo of the film is the best thing about it. Just catch that on the telly.
Incidentally, while seeing the film I realised that killing and maiming are perfectly understandable human acts as compared to something like adopting babies. Angelina Jolie gets so many smirks from the press. Somebody even described her behaviour as compulsive adoptive disorder. I guess my low testosterone levels blind me to the oddity of her behaviour. She causes so much hilarity and the Spartans - they get all the respect.