This is a poem and a story that sort of above the actual historical time in which it takes place. I mean, the Iliad itself is historically inaccurate (of course, what do I know. Maybe it happened just like that!)
See, what actually worked so wonderfully to me is that we don't have much to go on regarding this time period and this war. I viewed the whole thing as if it were sort of the real story upon which the legend was based, not as a theatrical drama. Things that were different from the poem didn't trouble me at all, because I thought the movie supported (in general) this concept -- for example, the scene where the soldiers come in and see Achilles shot through the heel, not realizing he's also been shot several more times. Also for example, the secret tunnel. If Paris did indeed escape, perhaps no one knew it, and hundreds of years later it was presumed he'd been killed. That kind of thing. I agree about the hair (especially didn't like Sean's hair, but Eric's bothered me too).
I didn't know about the city being razed -- that's interesting, and unfortunate that they made such a point about the walls never having been breached. Kind of strange, actually. But what I did love was the generational divide when it came to the role of the gods, and the way they used that to explain certain things (like why Priam brings the horse inside the city walls) as well as to make emotional sense out of why everybody makes the choices they do. I thought despite the awkwardness of the dialogue, the emotional heart of the script was really sound and well-motivated and man, did he have a tough task there.
Part of it is that I always forget how much I don't like the story of Iliad.
I never did really, either, which is why I was so impressed by what they made of it. I thought it was a pretty cool balancing act between making the characters comprehensible and sympathetic and making sense out of all the conflicting motivations and values in play. And I think the fact that I hated Gladiator so much and was so disappointed with it made a difference. I went in to this one not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised.
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See, what actually worked so wonderfully to me is that we don't have much to go on regarding this time period and this war. I viewed the whole thing as if it were sort of the real story upon which the legend was based, not as a theatrical drama. Things that were different from the poem didn't trouble me at all, because I thought the movie supported (in general) this concept -- for example, the scene where the soldiers come in and see Achilles shot through the heel, not realizing he's also been shot several more times. Also for example, the secret tunnel. If Paris did indeed escape, perhaps no one knew it, and hundreds of years later it was presumed he'd been killed. That kind of thing. I agree about the hair (especially didn't like Sean's hair, but Eric's bothered me too).
I didn't know about the city being razed -- that's interesting, and unfortunate that they made such a point about the walls never having been breached. Kind of strange, actually. But what I did love was the generational divide when it came to the role of the gods, and the way they used that to explain certain things (like why Priam brings the horse inside the city walls) as well as to make emotional sense out of why everybody makes the choices they do. I thought despite the awkwardness of the dialogue, the emotional heart of the script was really sound and well-motivated and man, did he have a tough task there.
Part of it is that I always forget how much I don't like the story of Iliad.
I never did really, either, which is why I was so impressed by what they made of it. I thought it was a pretty cool balancing act between making the characters comprehensible and sympathetic and making sense out of all the conflicting motivations and values in play. And I think the fact that I hated Gladiator so much and was so disappointed with it made a difference. I went in to this one not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised.
Too bad about that dialogue... *g*