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300

300

300 is an interpretation of the actions and events between the Spartan and Persian armies during the Battle of Thermopylae. In this movie there is an on going personal conflict between the Spartan King Leonidas and the Persian ruler Xerxes that ends with the death of the Spartan king. The film depicts a small Spartan army of only three hundred men battling the Persian, “Army of a thousand nations,” in a narrow mountain pass. 300 gives a fairly accurate look into what the world of the Spartans was like during the Persian wars including their way of life, battle tactics, use of geography, attire, significance of social class, and respect for the art of war (Miller).
The movie opens up with a memorable scene that describes the Spartan way of life being hard and having no room for weaknesses. It is shown that Spartan babies were inspected at birth for any type of defects or faults that would limit the child later in life during battle. Babies that met the requirements were allowed to live and given back to their mothers, and those with imperfections were left alone to perish. The movie goes on to illustrate life of a young Spartan. In a standout scene a young Leonidas is sent out of the village to prove himself to Sparta. While in the wilderness Leonidas encounters a large wolf and courageously kills it with his spear by guiding it into a narrow rock formation to gain an advantage over the beast. When Leonidas returns to Sparta draped in a coat made from the wolf’s pelt he is embraced by his people as the future king of Sparta thus proving him self a righteous warrior.
This scene for the most part is accurate, but certain details are exaggerated for Hollywood. King Leonidas and other Spartan boys did not have to battle a wolf or any type of beast to finalize their training as a Spartan soldier, but they did have to complete multiple tasks and years of training to become a citizen and join the army. Throughout their adolescent and teenage years, Spartan boys...