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Troy, the Olympic Games and Elias (Part 1)

The mixed reception Wolfgang Petersen’s new film, ‘Troy,’ has received from the critics is indicative of the ambivalent relationship the film starring Brad Pitt has with both itself and with the written version of the ancient epic that has come down to us as one of the most important parts of the ancient Greek literary legacy.At 2 hours and 43 minutes, it is too long to be a quick “sword and sandals” flick, but too short to be truly epic. Indeed, condensing 10 years of fighting into 12 days of occasional battle underwhelms, detracting from any audience appreciation of what- if it really was fought- must have been an enormously difficult and destructive war.

Thus we fear that ‘Troy’ may someday be lumped affectionately within a certain category of turn-of-the-millennium epic war films that in their visual presentation, production and character affects will seem as dated and as silly to future viewers as Ben Hur and the other ancient history costume pieces of the 50’s and 60’s seem to us now.

Despite a few rave reviews to the contrary, the characters did not seem to relate as a uniform ensemble with much in the way of on-screen chemistry. The revulsions, the passions, and the antagonisms alike were all rather flat. If audiences got what they expected it’s because in the homogenized Western world of today, they don’t expect very much.

Of course, as usual with films based on previously written stories, there is little use in complaining that, “it’s not like it was in the book!” even if the original is so much more interesting. As Wikipedia mentions, “…many characters are missing (notably, Diomedes); others are killed differently than is described in the myths.” For example, Achilles was indeed killed by Paris, but not on account of the latter’s martial skills. Rather, textual descriptions of the murder “…conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valor,” claiming that Achilles was actually killed while visiting a Trojan princess. Surprised while defenseless, he therefore remained technically “…undefeated on the battlefield” even to death.

Yet despite the exclusion of key characters, for example the Greek Gods, some found reason to cheer. A recent interview with Peter O’Toole claims that his “tent scene” with Achilles employed dialogue that “comes directly from Homer’s Iliad,” in what is called the “most dramatically powerful scene in Troy” by the reviewer- where O’Toole’s character (Trojan King Priam) begs for the body of slain son Hector.

There is indeed something commendable about Peter O’Toole’s emotive performance as Priam, but this also says something about the lack of other, similarly inspired performances. But then again O’Toole was the only true thespian to appear in the film and, despite the odd usage of British accents on American actors- apparently to enhance their believability factor- the method did little to inspire confidence in either the actors themselves or in their Greek-ness.

Then again, the film was made by a German. With their very unfortunate practice of dubbing all foreign films, the Germans have given up on even suspending their disbelief and allowing the actor’s voice to enhance his role. In this ultra-efficient, ultra-utilitarian practice the Germanic audience has become even more American than the Americans.

Still in the end, if ‘Troy’ was an epic, it was a disposable one. Not entirely forgettable, but nevertheless as easily erased from the mind as that computer-generated, 1,000-strong fleet bearing down on Asia Minor can be erased from the designer’s screen. The strongest memory one has of the film after seeing it are Brad Pitt’s inflated triceps, and also the nagging thought that Helen (played by Diane Kruger, and bearing an unnerving resemblance to Sarah Jessica Parker) doesn’t really seem to be the most beautiful woman in the world. By the same token, Paris (Orlando Bloom) seems rather too effete to have deserved his prize. All in all, it is the flimsiness of this relationship more than anything that invites skepticism as to why older, wiser brother Hector and father Priam tolerated Paris’ amours.

‘Troy’ is the latest in a long line of epic films such as ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ to be centered on enormous armies waging gory battles at close quarters. Yet despite the film’s failings, there are some redeeming values in ‘Troy.’ Unlike ‘LOTR,’ the warring parties are not easily recognized as representing either absolute evil or good. Human complexities account for the war, and by the end have become tragically linked with the same war. Considering the current foreign conquest being undertaken by the modern-day empire of Agamemnon (i.e., America) in Iraq, perhaps viewers will come away from it with new reflections on the folly of hubris, as personified by that doomed king in his megalomaniacal machinations. And, of course, if the film inspires even one person from the younger generations so averse to reading to pick up the original text, it will have done a great service.

Troy’s spring release kicks off a rather Grecian summer, culminating with the Olympics in Athens this August and followed by the Alexander the Great films in the fall/winter. Considering that both films are inevitably sparking a hot debate about the veracity of their relationship to history, and that the Olympic organizers are striving to present the Games as the veritable height of international friendship and peaceful cooperation, we would do well to turn to an author who reminds us of the true- and considerably more violent- history of the Olympic Games of antiquity. That follows in Part 2 of this article.