You all know there’s a new movie about Troy. They found a very original title: the movie is entitled Troy!
A fabulous cast, good publicity, … what do you want more?
Maybe a good movie?
I went to see this movie. And I know there are aways little historic mistakes in this kind of movies. But mostly it does not disturb the performance. Nevertheless, after this movie I was very disapointed! And I was not the only one. I went with a group of classicists. They all study Greek and Latin and they all know what the storries are about. No one of them had a good feeling about this movie! There was really no exception!
In the beginning I really didn’t know what they were talking about. Although I know the storry verry well, I first thought I was in the wrong room! After a little while I recognised the storry. But it was an other storry than the one I know. Briseïs had the leading role I think. She moved from one camp to the other. The fight about Briseïs? I didn’t see anything about that. Even the temples were like they are now! They had no roof, they were only four pillars! I supposed that they were intact in that time, but the moviemaker thought differently!
The soldiers mostly ran into each other (literally) and did’nt really fight. The heroes did fight, but even with 50 wapons in their body, they were able to resist! When the horse was shown, they showed the sea, so I was expecting to see Laocoon, but nothing.
O yea, in Homer the gods play one of the biggest parts. Here there was no god at all, not one! How is it possible to tell the Homrian storries without gods? That’s a part of the beauty of Homer, isn’t it?
When I saw ‘Inspired by Homer’ at the end, I couldn’ t resist, I had to laugh very loudly. The public didn’t understand, cause the movie was already finished.
There was one positive thing: the room was filled with people! People are still interested in the ancients. That was a relief, I hope that some of them will read more about the storries, if it’s only one of them, I will find my peace again …
Troy or no Troy? I would say: stay home and read a good book instead!
I hope that the movies about Alexander that will appear are a little better.
Well, I just got back from seeing it with a friend, and we both enjoyed it very much. I’ll say this up front for those who are expecting The Iliad: Don’t. It’s a very well done movie, with a lot of action and a great duel between Achilles and Hector (and of course, archery from our favorite Wood Elf actor), but it doesn’t present the story as a myth. Instead, the movie presents the story as perhaps being what INSPIRED the myths. It’s showing what Troy would have been like as history, not as mythology.
SEMI-SPOILERS BELOW
While Paris and Helen are the reason for the war, Agamemnon sees them as a useful excuse to start a war he wants anyway. Likewise, Achilles is not shown as invulnerable, merely unbeatable. The gods are not completely absent; they are mentioned frequently. But they aren’t characters, nor would their presence have fit in the way the story was told.
END SPOILERS
Overall, I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys epic history. This is a war story, with romance, heroism, nobility and treachery. Think of it as War and Peace or Saving Private Ryan, with spears and chariots instead of cannons and tanks.
But don’t expect a retelling of Homer. This is more as Herodotus would have described it, or more accurately Thucydides.
Moerus, your first mistake was going to see it with Classicists.
Really, I think sometimes classicists need to stop taking everything so seriously. It’s a movie, not an acaedmic treatise. The greeks were famous for ripping apart history and reconstructing it in their stories to suit their artistic purposes, so why can’t we?
I’m a classicist my-self. And I totally not agree with you. If homer wanted to tell a history, he would have written one. No instead he wrote an epic story! So leaving the gods out of the movie is a personal choice, but also a very bad decission. De gustibus non disputandum est. Indeed everyone has his own opinion: you have good opinions, and bad opinions. Make your conclusion. This movie is to much American and less Greek. That’s my problem. If there was only a little fault, it wouldn’t bother me, but no, they had to rewrite the whole movie and in a very bad way, that’s all what I have to say about that!
Sadly, the biggest support for the movie comes from American teenage girls who don’t care who Homer is, but like the fact that the line up of actors looks more like a beauty pagent than an epic history.
This is a great disappointment after the success that LOTR had by sticking close to the orignal story.
Everyone in ancient times spoke the queen’s English, didn’t they? (Note the Crowe corollary: when an Aussie plays an ancient Roman we have to explain his less-than-perfect accent by calling him a Spaniard.)
Not having seen the film, I don’t know how well or poorly the sole American lead actor does with his accent. I don’t think that Mr. Pitt is there for how he delivers his lines, but that’s just a guess.
Besides should one go the subtitle route with proper Homeric dialect, what do you do with the Trojans? We know what they speak in the world of the Iliad, but if you are looking for verisimilitude, it’s going to be hard to approach their language with any certainty. (Leaving aside what you do in the sequel and Aeneas lands at Carthage requiring no translator…!)
Everyone in ancient times spoke the queen’s English, didn’t they? (Note the Crowe corollary: when an Aussie plays an ancient Roman we have to explain his less-than-perfect accent by calling him a Spaniard.)
I remember in my acting class, we had to speak standard American English. We had to use the “neutral” accent if we weren’t going to immitate the play’s speech characteristics. It was in that class that I discovered that I had a Californian accent. To my astonishment, us Californians are lazy speakers… Anyway, I still don’t have a good idea to what Standard American English sounds like. My teacher telling me to listen to news broadcasters doesn’t really help…
Oh yes, since Spain didn’t exist yet, aren’t we supposed to call him a Hispaniard?
'Kay, people? It’s just a movie. We knew going in that it wasn’t going to be a transcription of the Iliad. Instead of picking it to pieces and decrying silly things like the accents of the actors, how about we just appreciate the fact that a lot of people went to see this movie, and you can bet that some of them are going to go out and read Homer for the first time because of this. The young woman I took to see it had never read any classical literature before; now she’s considering borrowing my copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
To counter the negativity on this thread, here are some things I liked about this movie:
bronze weapons and armor. No clashing of steel here, which is good attention to detail, considering this is a Hollywood movie. It’s the first ancient epic since Quest for Fire that didn’t use steel.
Homer’s themes were present in the movie; Achilles’ desire for glory and remembrance above all, Odysseus’ quick-thinking, Hector’s reluctant participation in the war and his understanding that he was indeed going to die, and Priam’s visit to the tent of Achilles. The dialogue might not have been exactly Homeric, but it was nonetheless there in spirit.
The presentation of the movie as possible history instead of mythology. Yes, I liked that the gods weren’t in the movie except by name. I like that it was a story focused on the human beings, not the divine ones. I’m well aware of the importance of the gods in Greek literature, especially Homer. But this made the story cleaner and easier for newcomers to grasp. It’s not a fairy tale, not with a 14A rating.
This movie probably won’t win any Oscars. But it might win some converts to reading, if not studying, the classics. Which would you prefer?
Saw the movie last night…I kinda liked it! But then again, I go to movies to be entertained, not to see if they live up to the book or the original. One thing I thought was funny though, was the “Sword of Troy” that had been there for 800 years (I think that’s what he said)…wasn’t this supposed to be early bronze age to start with?? That would place the sword circ. 2000BC??
hmmmm. All in all I liked it. I love it when heroes die…no happy sailing into the sunset, reality is pain, d3ath , and loss. Some of my very favorite movies are ones where the main character gets whacked! To me it adds realism that few directors care to risk…Americans like happy endings.
If you’ve never seen the movie Uncommon Valor (it’s an older 80’s war movie) it has the same kind of ending. Nobody wins
I can’t speak for the movie since I have not seen it, but I still do not think that people should be learning the classics as a result of some film. They would quickly find that learning the verb system of Greek is slightly less entertaining than handsome young men fighting in skirts, whether you be attracted thereto or not.
P.S. This movie could never beat 10 Things I Hate About You!!!
