300 Paper

The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed” (300 Script,n.d.). In 2006, a fantasy action film retelling the battle of Thermopylae hit theaters and drew in millions of fans from all over the world (300, 2006). This film was a huge success. I think 300 was such a success and a great movie because it had a well written screen play, interesting cinematography, and intense fight scenes.

The screen play is based off of the historic battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans

stood up against a massive army of Persians. Leonidas, played by Gerard Butler, is the king of

Sparta and he is faced with a decision to ether fight for his land or bow down and become a slave to the god king Xerxes, played by Rodrigo Santoro. Leonidas gathers 300 of Sparta’s finest warriors to fight the massive Persian army. After a series of battles, the Spartan warriors kill off many Persians but suffer great losses of their own. At the climactic scene Leonidas is faced again with the same decision to bow down to the God king or fight and die. Eventually all 300 die for their freedom and because of this great sacrifice the Spartans inspired all of Greece to fight against the Persian army (300, 2006).

The dialog in the movie was very powerful. For example, there were many speeches made throughout the movie but my favorite one is when the Persian messenger comes to Sparta. The messenger disrespects the Queen and tells Leonidas Xerxes offer. Leonidas takes out his sword and points it at the messenger backing him up towards a black pit. The messenger then says “This is madness no one attacks a messenger” (300 Script,n.d.). After this, the King looks at his Queen for approval and Leonidas says, “Madness? This is Sparta” (300 Script,n.d.). Then he kicks the messenger into the pit. I thought this scene was very powerful because it sets the tone for the movie. Leonidas is never merciful when it...