Unlike most other movies, where the story can be a starting point for a review, Troy enjoys immunity from all such lines of approaches. Being loosely based on the blind Greek poet Homer?s Iliad, Troy, set in ancient Greece, is the story of two of the most notorious lovers of all times, Paris, Prince of Troy (played by Orlando Bloom) and Helen (played by Diane Kruger), Queen of Sparta. Queen of Sparta, i.e., until she is whisked off to Troy by Paris.
What follows is, to put it crudely, a chase for a wrong-doer wife, by her wronged husband, the confrontation of the two suitors, and the war that ensues when one of them dies?
But, Iliad has been able to enchant men for ages, not because it has been crudely put!!! Far from it !!!
Director Wolfgang Peterson has managed to recreate the grandeur of Troy, and the magnitude of the Greek attach on the besieged city of Troy, in breath-taking vivid details. Though the screenplay has missed out on some vital aspects of the war which made the story (and Achilles, along with it) immortal against time, like the fact that Achilles (played by Brad Pitt) was supposed to be immortal except for his heel (Achilles was born the son of King Peleus of the Myrmidons of Thessaly and the sea nymph Thetis.
To make her son immortal, Thetis dipped Achilles into the River Styx as a child (Though some accounts say he was dipped in a holy fire). With this, Achilles did indeed become immortal with one exception...his heel by which his mother held him during the dipping.), of the fact that the war went on for ten years (while the movie shows the son of Hector still a toddler by the time Troy falls?), nevertheless, the movie can not be faulted, for it has still managed to recreate the magic of ancient Greek, where men has waged war against fellow men - some for power, some for glory, some for honor, and some for love - and it would be Love that would decide the fates of both Achilles and Hector (played by Eric Bana), the two greatest warriors alive at the time.
All through the movie, the character of Achilles stands out as an obvious stalwart - supposedly against the backdrop of honor and courage, unbeatable by all men mortal? Achilles, though is shown to be no more than a mercenary, fighting for Agamemnon not because of any allegiance he might be construed to have, but only for his personal glory.
I must concede at this point that the introduction to Achilles? character as a man obsessed with his own glory and supremely confident in his own invincibility has been well done, when in the first battle scene in the movie, Achilles is shown to be getting ready to confront a much bigger man in a one-to-one combat. When the messenger boy who has come to call Achilles to war tells him (A.) how frightful his opponent his, Achilles responds in a tone reeking of arrogance, ?That?s why no one will remember your name, a thousand years from now.? Subsequently, A. is shown to dispose of the opponent in an almost casual manner, while challenging others to confront him in battle, crying out loud, ?Is there no one else?, is there no one??
At the same time, the movie also depicts very well the conflicts within him (when he says to Patroclus that the images of the men he killed call out for him from across the river Styx) and his knowledge of his mortality in later scenes. Or, for that matter the sequence when Achilles meets with his mother Thetis, who reminds him of his choice of a short but glorious life over a long and peaceful one, and tells him that he will not return from Troy but will be immortalized by his actions in the Trojan war - is memorable and well portrays the struggle that still exists deep inside our war-thirsty Hero.
Meanwhile, to carry on with the movie, the battle scene when Achilles lands on the beach of Troy for the first time, and butchers the Troy contingent is depicted with tremendous force. Also worth watching is the first confrontation between Hector and Achilles, which is very well shot - two warriors meet for the first time, when time stands still?
I was reminded of ?The Ballad of East and West? by Kipling,
OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God?s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth
When two strong men stand face to face, tho? they come from the ends of the earth!
A Snippet: Surprisingly, I found out recently, that the subsequent fight scene between Achilles and Hector - when hector succumbs to Achilles - shows the signature swordplay of Achilles as derived from the martial art form Kalaripayatt.
One of the scenes I liked most is where King Priam (played by Peter O?Toole) comes to the tent of Achilles to ask for Hector?s body, so that he may be cremated with the proper rites. At this point in the movie, O?Toole has almost wiped Brad Pitt off the screen with his acting. The dialogue between Achilles and Priam has been very well written and O?Toole demonstrates as to why he?s still not lost the ??Lawrence of Arabia?? touch
Another Snippet: One thing that seems to be lacking sorely as compared to the original Homerian text is the interference by the Gods in the battlefield? there is this particular scene in the original Iliad that shows the cavalier, nay almost shameful nature of the Gods, when Hera, wife (and sister!) of Zeus incites Menelaus to futile acts of slaughter, pointing out random victims for destruction, with a casual, capricious joy,
King human. Menelaus. If you stick
Him, him, and him, I promise you will get your Helen back.
Needless to say, Menelaus is just too eager to refuse? Well, I repeat this is not from the movie, but the book. The movie blissfully makes all the story look all-too human.
On the whole, the movie leaves you with a bitter after-taste, as to why Achilles had to be so futile, why Paris had to be so vain, why Helen had to be so vain? why Hector had to slain? all for what?
The whole theme of the story revolves around the strength of a few women - Helen, first and foremost, then Briseis, the one who ends up in Achilles? heart? Thetis, mother of Achilles, who foresaw what the future held for Achilles and still sent Achilles to his own doom? I am reminded of the story of Alexander the Great, incidentally a descendant of Achilles? family, whose mother is given a choice between a short but glorified life or a long, peaceful but forgettable life for her son. Her choice is the stuff history is made of today? And further, why not Kurt Cobain, who wrote in his suicide note, ?Better to burn, than fade away!?
While streaming out of the theater with the milling crowd, I was forced to wonder as to kind of glory is this that draws men to destroy themselves, in order to become immortal in history - long after they themselves are not there to enjoy the fruits of their own valor and courage?
That is the story of Troy? a story of a long war, waged for love - of land, of riches, of glory, of a beloved, of family relations, of fame & recognition?
But in the end, like Ozymandias, ??in a war it does not matter who is right, what matters is? who is left.? And after the Battle of Troy, not many were?
