Film Review: The ladies and 300...

300 (2007)

Directed by:

Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead)




It really has been an experience to be part of my new office - a coupled feeling of being part of a renowned mutlinational public relations firm and, for the lack of a better description, a lady's dormitory. For a time, I was the only man in a 14-person team office set-up and when I joined, they sort of forgot that I was there.

Occasionally, I would hear stuff like "Fuck, my boobs hurt!" or "Who has a napkin, ora mismo if you know what I mean!" And then they would pause and snicker the second they remember I was in the room. Eventually though, they just stopped caring and went about their dormitory ways. The highlight of it would be a certain Tuesday morning when I walked in the office and found everyone gathered around a monitor with jaws dropped and giggles in between. They were watching the Colin Farrell porn flick. (Jesus Christ...) That was the day I realized that girls DO watch porn...

So imagine the monday morning after the weekend the film 300 came out... It was a congressional hearing about abs, pecks, more abs and a little bit of facial hair. They made it clear though that after enjoying and drooling over the movie, they all went home separately to do god-knows-what. Again, I was simply amazed.

The film though was obviously more than just the male physique and sweating men for me. I believe it can easily be the epic war movie of this year and the years to come. From a classic mytchical story originating centuries back exaggerated and modified through time, Zack Snyder projected a very clever portrayal - he used typical actors with typical acting capabilities but elevated it through cinemtagrophy, fighting coreography and a kick-ass plot.

The film invokes fear, suspense, rage and passion to its audience. It's dialogue involves a plethora of speech techniques - from witty conversations to strong, threatening statements all in the spirit of the greatest glory a Spartan can get in the battlefield: a brutal death.

The story follows a predictable storyline - nations are at war, the hero goes to fight against the odds facing certain death and so on and so forth. But Snyder knew this was typical. He made it shine by taking the audience on a roller-coaster ride of violence, sex, betrayal, more violence and a hint of homophobia care of the Persian human-self-declared-God Xerces.

The Spartans battle an impossible confrontation of 300 versus a million and the filmmaker took advantage of this to wow the audience though tactical soldiery and organized fighting, which worked. This was done on a majority of the film and successfully made the nearly 2 hour length into the best 2 minute amusement park ride ever made.

After the film friends and strangers show the effect of the film on them in mostly any public place you can imagine through screams of "This is Sparta!!" or "What is your profession... Hooza!!!" which clearly shows the impact on the audience. I believe this also is a very good marketing tool for the film using word-of-mouth recommendation. I could be wrong but try and explain why it already made $130 million on its second week and I'll shut up.

Clearly a MUST SEE.

Rating: 8 out of 10

"How do you eat an elephant? Piece by piece..." - A wise mentor

H E A R T L E S S

This is for the thousands who applied...

For the hundreds who stated it was direly urgent...

And the few who had no deceit intended...

And didn't make it.

An old lady laced with age and experience wept as her husband who lived thousands of miles from her was reported to have two weeks to live suffering from numerous diseases, one of which was terminal. Watching over her grandchildren in this country and him taking the opportunity of living a better life in a farther place with two of their children, they made the conscious decision to be apart - only for the meantime and be reunited once things fell in better places. Clearly, a bold sacrifice for their loved ones.

Upon hearing the tragic news, she strove to get to him as soon as she can. There were limits, immigration issues and time to mention a few, but she would not stop and would do all she could to be with him, at least before it all ended upon the cold touch of death.

With the pressure of time on her back, she held her breath as she approached the American Embassy. After somewhat a couple of sleepless nights of worries and non-stop preparation of the right documents explaining the urgency, she was finally at what she believed was the biggest climax of her life - the moment that would determine her reunification and literally the last chance to be with the man she has loved for the past 50 years.

Sad to say, it was brutal and quick. The 72 hours of preparation and hoping was ended in a matter of 2 minutes, without even at the very least viewing the prepared documents.

"You have a husband there, what's gonna stop you from staying with him? My answer is no." said the officer playing God.

"Officer, please let me explain the situation..."

"Get out now before I call the guards." she interrupted.

She walked out feeling defeated and burned with despair. The thought of not seeing him again was unbearable. She was prepared to leave in six hours upon being granted the visa and now she didn't know what to do.

This didn't stop her from hoping though. With her son's help, she continued to strive and had made certain calls to schedule an appeal. Despite her sudden and sad encounter, she felt hopeful and she knew she would not give up.

The next night, her daughter from the U.S. called and said that he had already succumbed. Her grip on the telephone tightened as tears suddenly fell from her eyes. Despair filled her heart and all hope abandoned her. In all her right to scorn those who prevented her from seeing him again, she did otherwise. She simply wept and mourned the loss of her dear husband and let sadness, instead of anger and hatred, engulf her.

People would say stuff like "That's how things in the embassy goes..." or "Such is life." And to some extent, they're right. But, and I say this now with the simple intention to show how one's one-second choice can tragically change lives and lifetimes, on that day, let's not ignore what happened to that poor woman - what she lost, what she will never have again. And all because a system that rose from years of actual occurrences has corrupted the human spirit and prevented it from hearing out the true needs of a person.

What a disappointing day for anyone who has a heart.

Vaja con Dios, Cap. May you have a good landing there.

And sure, I'll try to stay away from drugs.