Movie Natters: March 8, 2007 Archive

The bloody "300"

Posted at 12:52 PM on March 8, 2007 by Euan Kerr (54 Comments)

Zack Snyder's stylishly hyperviolent "300" retells the iconic tale of the Spartans stand at Thermopylae for a 21st century audience, and retells it well.

This is no mean feat as there are many powerful elements at play here. First there is the story itself, of how 300 Spartan warriors took on the might of the advancing Persian army under led by Xerxes. They knew it was suicide, but could consider no other option under the Spartan code of honor.

"300" is also based on the Frank Miller graphic novel which tells the story through a heady mixture of starkly beautiful if blood-soaked images.

It could be a horrible mess, but Snyder pulls it off by finding and maintaining a finely tuned balance of story and style. He brings a humanity to the Spartans who history has often portrayed as unthinking zealots. The Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) knows what he has to do, but he is always considering and re-considering the implications of his decisions. His actions are based on his love for his family and his city.

Snyder also uses the camera to capture the smooth simplicity of Miller's graphic novel, much more successfully than was done in "Sin City." That Miller adaptation overwhelmed and repulsed at times, while "300" draws the audience in.

Much of "300" was shot against blue screens and the scenery added later. But Snyder gets real power from the close-ups on his actors. This is a film which revels in the horrors of hand-to-hand combat with spears and swords. The action, often in slow motion, features sprays of blood and mountains of corpses. It's horrific and fascinating.

It's not perfect: the Persians are portrayed as a strange hoard with consisting of mutants, and mask-wearing monsters with a penchant for facial piercings. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) comes across as kind of silly. But this seldom detracts from the main story.

Snyder launches his film as the world continues a raging debate over the justifications and cost of wars. Actors at the premiere reportedly declined to be drawn into any discussion of a message in "300." This story could be interpreted in many ways, pro-war, pro-peace, a simple retelling of a classical story, or a pointed commentary on the war on terrorism.

The ancient Greeks had a talent for telling morally ambiguous tales. Snyder is clearly deep in that camp.

A side note: Malcolm the 16 year old tells me "Every sophomore boy in America" wants to see "300." He's been wandering around the house quoting lines he's heard from the trailers, revelling in the Glaswegian accent Gerard Butler imposes to great effect on Leonidas.

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The nice folks behind "Intolerable"

Posted at 6:45 PM on March 8, 2007 by Euan Kerr

Alison Maclean and David Rackoff are pleasant people. Rackoff is best known as a fine essayist, and is a regular contributor to "This American Life." Maclean is a film director who asked her friend Rackoff if he would play a diablolical casting director who auditions unsuspecting actors.

His instructions? Each actor who comes in is asked to imagine a situation where they would want to flee, then act it out. The scene is to end after they quit the room and run down the corridor outside. They are told not to return. Maclean film both the auditions and the reactions from the crowd of people waiting for their audition outside.

The aim originally was to do a four minute short, but after two days of filming, and 100 auditions, Maclean says she had such good material she couldn't limit it that much. Maclean and Rackoff will introduce the resulting film, "Intolerable," at the Women With Vision festival at the Walker on Saturday.

We'll air our interview with the "Intolerable" duo tomorrow night on All Things Considered. But you can hear a little sample here.