300

Originally posted on April 14, '07, at slangards.multiply.com

"Go tell the Spartans, passerby
That by Spartan law, here we lie"

I don't cry when I watch outright dramas; tearjerkers don't really have the intended effect on me. I tend to observe them stoically, appreciating the effect they have on others, but never really being affected myself (I'm dead inside, I know).

The only time I ever get teary eyed at the cinema is when I watch the stuff where the big hero/heroine makes the big speech about heroism and sacrifice and an eternity celebrating in the halls of valhalla with the likes of Achilles, Oddysseus, and Schwarzenegger.

As Theodred mourns for his son among fields of Simbelmynë, I can't help but sob. Whenever Bill Pullman shouts "This is our Independence Day!" I get all misty. When Willam Hurt says "The world moves for love; it kneels before it in awe", I'm left speechless. I was tearing up when Samuel Jackson gave the whole "We are soooo gonna get out of here" speech in Deep Blue Sea.

Well, until the shark ate him of course.

So given this quirk, you can imagine how moving 300 was for me. If you put aside all the unabashed violence, alleged homo-eroticism, and hedonistic depravity of the bad guys, the story is all about sacrifice and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. Leonidas takes on "a thousand nations of the Persian Empire", laughs in their faces and inspires his people to defeat the hordes and usher in an age of reason?

Dude, where do I fall in line?