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The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae 
Actors : TJ Cencula, John Fairbairn, J.B. Gardiner, Kevin Moran, Christopher Hartmann
Director : David Padrusch
Studio : A&E Home Video
by A&E Home Video
Brand : A&E
Release Date : 2007-07-31
Publisher : A&E Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0733961772111
UPC : 733961772111
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 35 reviews)
List Price : $19.95
Our Price : $10.92
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Product Description |
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The legendary battle of Thermopylae is still acknowledged today for its brilliant military maneuvers and the well-trained and fearless soldiers who fought to the death. THE HISTORY CHANNEL® presents a detailed account of this legendary battle examining the events leading up to the conflict the tactical expertise that allowed the outnumbered Greeks to stall their mighty foes and the bloody encounter itself. Find out how an army of a few hundred men overcame impossible odds and witness the conflict that altered the course of Western civilization. System Requirements:Running Time: 94 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 733961772111 Manufacturer No: AAE-77211 |
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Americancivilwar.com |
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Last Stand of the 300 is an interesting 90-minute documentary from the History Channel explaining the details of the ancient Spartans' showdown with the Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae. It's long been a fascinating subject, but it hit popular culture in a big way with the 2007 feature film 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Last Stand of the 300 helps explain the background behind the battle as well as many of the details not covered in the movie, including how the Ionian Revolt and the famed battle of Marathon led to Themopylae, the naval front led by Thermistocles, and what happened afterward. Numerous scholars and authors (including the writers of Gates of Fire and Empires at War) explain the rigorous Spartan training, military strategy, the Oracle at Delphi, the Persian technological advantage, different kinds of weaponry and vessels (the Spartan hoplon, dory, and xiphos, and the trireme), and how one of Miller's famous lines came from Herodotus ("Then we shall have our battle in the shade"). The maps are extremely helpful for showing how the geography affected the battle (one detour would have cost the Persians an extra two years of travel time), but the reenactments look kind of simple compared to the extremely stylized feature film. --David Horiuchi |
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More informative than expected |
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I saw the movie but this gives more meaning to the story. I had no idea how the battle got started. |
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Highly skewed and frequently misleading production |
After only one viewing, I can't even begin to compile a list of the numerous factual errors and slapdash invention that characterize the tedious and shallow "Last Stand of the 300." I was wary going in of the baleful influence of the shamefully dumb "300" movie, and this History Channel (tsk-tsk) production painfully lived down to expectations.
There's little point to belabor the obvious -- that this is a tabloid version of history with a LOT of dubious assertions, colored by a movie that was based on a comic book, populated by talking heads I've never heard of (and I have shelves of scholarly books on ancient Greek history) -- except for the ubiquitous Steven Pressfield and he's a FICTION author, for pete's sake -- and garishly illustrated by some woeful computer graphics that only add another element of unreality. (Where was Thermopylae supposed to be, on a fjord in Norway in the middle of winter? I've never seen a Greek summer portrayed in so many icy blue-grey tones before, and I guess centuries of writers, mapmakers, painters, and photographers never noticed the sheer seaside cliffs of Thermopylae until the makers of "300" pointed them out.) A lot of outrageous allegations are made and accepted without question by the duly deputized historians -- that ancient Sparta was run like a sadistic US Marine boot camp, based on exaggerated and unsubstantiated tales put out by Roman-era writers centuries after the fact, is a peculiar obsession of Pressfield's, as evidenced in his sadly influential book "Gates of Fire." As if whippings and beatings were the way to forge an unyielding spirit or create the perfect warrior. Sure, just like kicking your dog repeatedly from puppyhood will produce a loyal and faithful companion.
There is a strange tendency here to mangle the pronunciations of Greek-origin words and names; make up stuff when faced with a lack of actual contemporary documentation; and substitute theory for fact without telling the viewer the difference. Then there are misplaced locations on the maps, wild speculation in place of sober analysis, and worst of all perhaps, a dreadful modern ideological perspective that puts events and attitudes in words and concepts no ancient Greek would have understood. We are subjected to a lot of bloviating about "saving democracy" when the Greeks had barely invented the word, let alone embarked on a crusade to make the world safe for it. Your Greek footsoldier at Thermopylae was there because it was his duty to his city, his clan, his gods and his personal honor -- it was not because of high-minded speechifying put into his mouth by late 20th century partisan blowhards. It's ridiculous to ascribe our attitudes and beliefs to peoples of the distant past, especially when we have so many of the Greeks' OWN thoughts and feelings from this time preserved in their own histories and literature (mostly ignored, sadly, by these filmmakers). You won't find any "we saved democracy!" talk in these accounts. Even the notion that the Spartans were somehow "professionals" is more than a bit sloppy -- they drew no pay for their service, they were not "professional" the way modern mercenaries are "professional". Spartan citizens (homoioi) were a class of landed gentry with no other designated occupation than war, much like medieval knights. They would have occupied themselves with training, hunting, politicking, and overseeing their estates. They actually spent less time making war than you might expect, conservative Sparta not eager to rock the boat of its stratified society or risk precious and limited manpower wastefully. Spartan citizens formed a more or less permanent standing militia whose training and discipline and organization and internal cohesiveness were leagues beyond what the typical Greek citizen-soldier was capable of; that was the secret of Sparta's battlefield success.
Enough. None of what I've written will sway the impassioned "300" fanboys who will insist on rewriting history to suit their own power fantasies; including producers of cable TV documentaries that cater to such tastes. For a truly well-made and balanced and engaging documentary on ancient Sparta in all its aspects -- a fascinating society badly served by this one-dimensional, third-rate effort -- I recommend to viewers "The Spartans", 180 minutes, hosted by Bettany Hughes, produced in the UK and aired and released in the US by PBS. You can get this through Americancivilwar and it does much better service to the memory of Leonidas and his immortal Three Hundred.
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Facts may be more exciting then the fiction |
Last Stand of the 300 is the History channel's rendition of Herodotus' "The Histories" version of that great Battle of Thermopylae. The best historians - and most eccentric - are pulled together to reshape the world of the Spartans and the 3 days that will be remembered for all history. Though not as visually enthralling as Frank Miller's verison as it misses ogres, demons, and 7' hermaphrodites, it details the weaponry, the culture, the mindset, and the details of that glorious battle.
They don't make'em like they used to! |
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Interesting and historically accurate, but poorly edited |
Prior to watching this video, I read the sections of The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories applicable to Thermopylae. This video is remarkably true to Herodotus' description, and avoids the glamorization typical of Hollywood's treatment of the subject. It treats both the Greeks and Persians fairly, and provides an integrated view of both the land and sea battles and the related battles of Marathon and Salamis, which had previously been confused in my mind.
Unfortunately, the battle of Salamis and Themistocles' role is given rather short shrift. A fuller description is provided on the first disk of The History Channel Presents Engineering an Empire - The Complete Series (Collector's Edition), which appears to have originally been part of this disk.
Because the topography around Thermopylae has changed significantly over the past 2500 years, the film relies heavily on graphic representations of the battle, which helps clarify it in the eyes of the viewer. To the extent that actors are used, they look like Greeks and Persians -- dark, swarthy looks, and not inordinately handsome. There is, in the words of Hollywood, no "love interest." This is a film for people with brains.
The authors and scholars who add commentary to the film are generally good, but not excellent. The one exception is Richard Gabriel, author of Empires at War [Three Volumes]: A Chronological Encyclopedia, who is both intelligent and funny.
The reason I gave it only 4 stars, is its sloppy editing. The points at which breaks for advertising were intended in the History Channel presentation stand out and break the continuity of the program. They could have been cut out by any halfway competent editor; clearly no effort was made to do so. |
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Banking on that movie. You know which one |
There are not nearly enough documentaries that properly document the Spartiates, though several do touch upon such as the Battle of Thermopylae. However, unlike something like "Decisive Battles" which features a "Rome Total War" depiction of the battle, this one is a stale and not greatly done documentary. It is quite blatantly just trying to cash in on the hype behind "300", evident by the filming style and perpetual sunset-esque backdrop.
Kudos to it keeping to history, although it does get wrong several aspects of the battle, and the Spartan nature for soft-spokenness. The documentary claims "it's not in the Spartans' nature to be silent" during battle. This is completely wrong; even Steven Pressfield, author on two historical fiction books on the Spartans, and contributing interviewee on this documentary, claims that silence on the field of battle was what made the Spartans particularly intimidating.
Other than that, it's something of a good attempt, but ultimately inferior to better documentaries already released, and the re-enactments looks very poor due to their attempt to bank on 300's comic-book style. |
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