Hi Chris,
Yes, this film is a documentary from the History Channel here in the U.S. Here's the link to the Amazon.com (US) listing:
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-300-Leg...794&sr=8-1.
I watched it back in 2007 and, while it contains several inaccuracies (as is typical of History Channel productions), it is worth checking out.
While it is a documentary, it also rides the wave of 300 (the movie). This is painfully apparent in the life-action battle scenes. The overall visual style is clearly adapted to appeal to the watchers of 300, who want to know about the history of the battle after leaving the cinema. It felt a bit like in Starship Troopers (again the movie, not the great book): "Would you like to know more?" :-?
I cannot say I would recommend this one...
Hey,
thanks a lot for the answers
I have this one as well. It's fairly typical of this sort of history channel fayre. The best thing about the DVD is probably the cover and the occasional moody shot of some warriors. It is very repetitive. This is because they like to recap every twenty minutes or so assuming new viewers might have tuned in after the commercial breaks. More often than not these things are pretty cheap to pick up, so it's worth a look, but you won't learn anything that you didn't already know ...
The armour is terrible and don't get me started on the helmet crests!
hock:
Oh c'mon Mark, what's wrong with those horsehair plumes?
Quote:Oh c'mon Mark, what's wrong with those horsehair plumes?
Horsehair? Looks like the bristles from those brushes at the car wash. :lol:
Just giving you your cue!:lol:
My gripe would be why is Leonidas always portrayed as being about 30 years old, when he was almost certainly nearer twice that age (at Thermopylai)...
You really think he was that way old?
By the way, I heard once that in fact, Leonidas had some alternatives that would allow him to defend the pass without lots of problems - at keast as long as the persian fleet could not pass the bay between Euboia and the Greece main land.
Have you heard about it?
Quote:You really think he was that way old?
By the way, I heard once that in fact, Leonidas had some alternatives that would allow him to defend the pass without lots of problems - at keast as long as the persian fleet could not pass the bay between Euboia and the Greece main land.
Have you heard about it?
Yes it is accepted that Leonidas would have been in his late fifties or early sixties by the time of Thermopylae and I am always amused when he is portrayed by relatively young actors in documentaries. I am not familiar with any theories concerning an alternate defense of the pass. Lot's of 'what ifs' though, such as what if the Persians had not found the Anopaea path, or what if the path had been better defended, or what if reinforcements had been sent to the pass, etc etc.
There was only one way to defend that pass - and that was to block the coastal road that ran through it. August 480BC was only one of a number of occasions. Of course you had to make provision for the Anopaian path being discovered and you could be outflanked by a naval operation. I was a bit surprised that the ancient Phokian wall hadn't been substantially enlarged rather than falling into disuse. Mind you, pan-hellenic operations were rare and Malis probably considered unimportant by surrounding states.
Quote:There was only one way to defend that pass - and that was to block the coastal road that ran through it. August 480BC was only one of a number of occasions. Of course you had to make provision for the Anopaian path being discovered and you could be outflanked by a naval operation. I was a bit surprised that the ancient Phokian wall hadn't been substantially enlarged rather than falling into disuse. Mind you, pan-hellenic operations were rare and Malis probably considered unimportant by surrounding states.
Well said, the pass has been the site of several battles before and after the famous last stand. If Leonidas could have held the pass for a longer period of time then he most certainly would have. The modern, romanticized image of the suicidal Spartan warrior, longing for a 'beautiful death' is just that. If Leonidas could have held the pass and spared his men from certain death I believe he would have done so.
Yes, I've had the misfortune of suffering through this offshore...some of the few pleasures we have is watching TV and surfing the web....and was pretty much unimpressed.
About the whole mess, the 300isms in the whole thing...pretty abysmal!