OK, since I finally saw "300", I thought I'd put in my two cents.
Basically, I liked it. A good fantasy version of Leonidas' epic defence of the pass at Thermopylae. I liked the battle scenes immensely and the sense of comradeship.
*And from a white pride perspective, you can look at it as the maximum instance of white solidarity--an elite phalanx of proud , brave and well-trained Europeans looking out for each other against a horde of dusky third-worlders with a lot of bling.*
Ok, here comes the smart-aleck history major in me now.
A number of times, the Spartans present their cause as the cause of "Reason." But historically Sparta scorned reason (except as an aid to military organization and tactics) which is why, I believe, we have only one or two items of their literature remaining. In terms of culture, architecture, virtually nothing remains of Sparta. Athens represents reason and Greece. What do you think of when you think of Greece? The Acropolis--Athens not Sparta.
This Spartan "Reason" is contrasted with Eastern "fanaticism and mysticism." But both Spartans and Persians were religious peoples (though it's true both were far from having a conception of the one true God). (You could also say the Spartans were one up on the Persians inasmuch as they at least conceived of their gods in the form of men rather than animals).
In the movie, Leonidas scorns "oracles" and only seeks them out as a concession to old-fogey mystical traditionalists. But oracles were believed in by all the Greek city-states. (See the importance of oracles in the Peleponnesian Wars, esp. during the Syracusan expedition--Thucydides).
"Fanaticism"? there was nothing more fanatically totalitarian, cruel, and unreasonably tough than Spartan society (which, for example, threw out weak babies after birth--a fact which the movie to its credit portrays).
(However, at least the Spartans did not try to impose the "Spartan way" on other peoples. They were fanatical towards their own people, and basically wanted to have as little to do with foreigners as possible).
Anyway, with the respect to these themes, you clearly see an attempt by the producers to link the Persians with "islamo-fascism/religious fanaticism." I hope we are not being primed for another war.
In the movie, the Spartans make a joke about Athenian homosexuality. In reality, it was the Spartans who were more known for this vice. (In the account of Herodotus--Spartan lovers are combing each others' hair before the battle).
And of course, and understandably, the movie avoided the issue of Spartan cruelty towards their conquered "helot" peoples. Part of the ethic in which every Spartan was raised was to pactice continual warfare and duplicity against the helots, "to keep them down". (Eventually, thank God, the helots rebelled and triumphed over their oppressors).
The Spartans' totalitarianism makes them the antithesis of the free society, so the movie theme of "Freedom" versus "oriental despotism" won't wash.
However, the theme of *Independence* from foreigners was great! I'm all for that--Sparta for the Spartans, Greece for the Greeks, Persia for the Persians!
And the courage, simplicity, self-control, plain speech of the Spartan was brought out well. (The word "laconic' comes from Lacaedaemonian=Spartan).
That's what we should remember the Spartans for. Speak well of the dead.
OK, sorry for the vain historical pontifications.
Anyway, it was good movie.
