Insipid adaptation of the Illiad. Review on Troy Movie

Troy, is a movie based on the epic, The Illiad by Homer, a Greek poet. It tells the story of the Trojan war, fought between the Trojans led by Hector and the Greeks led by Agamemnon.

Troy features Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brad Pitt as Achilles, Sean Bean as Odysseus , Peter O'Toole as King Priam, Brian Cox as Agamemnon among others. The movie is directed by Wolfgang Petersen and the screenplay has been written by David Benioff.

The movie begins with Agamemnon's quest for dominion over all of Greece which was split up into several provinces warring among themselves. This is the first scene where one of the Epic Heroes, Achilles(Pitt) is first imposed upon the audience in a not so subtle way. This is also where I encountered my first disappointment with the movie. Achilles was raised the Spartan way, and the movie shows him lying on a bed of fur after a night of carnal pleasure with two women. For somebody who's been raised like a Spartan, the lust for battle is foremost and above all luxury.

The first battle scene shows Achilles disposing of a much bigger man in a casual manner, while challenging others to confront him in battle. I have to concede that the introduction to Achilles's character as a man obsessed with his own glory and supremely confident in his own invincibility has been well done.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.

Menelaus is negotiating a peace treaty with Troy, represented by its princes Hector(Bana) and Paris (Bloom). The movie doesn't show the dalliance of Paris and Helen (Kruger), the wife of Menelaus, focusing only on the night before Helen elopes with Paris. This is a good aspect, since the focus of the Illiad is on the war and not on Helen.

One of the good scenes of the movie is where Paris decides to tell Hector that he has brought along Helen with him and tells him that he (Paris) wouldn't ask Hector to fight his battle, to which Hector replies that Paris already has asked him to fight his battle. They reach Troy where Priam greets them and we get a glimpse of Briseis, the Trojan princess who plays a significant part in the momentum of the war. Menelaus approaches his brother Agamemnon for help in retrieving Helen and Agamemnon who has been aspiring to conquer Troy couldn't have asked for a better excuse.

A mighty army is assembled and Agamemnon who has been reluctant to include the rebellious Achilles is persuaded by the words of his counsel that ''for the greatest war we need the greatest warrior..'' Achilles meets with his mother Thetis, the sea nymph who reminds him of his choice of a short but glorious life over a long and peaceful life and tells him that he will not return from Troy but will be immortalized by his actions in the Trojan war.

The scenes which show him landing first on the beach of Troy and the first confrontation between Hector and Achilles are very well shot. Achilles withdraws from the war because of his contempt for Agamemnon and also due to the confiscation of his ''prize'' Briseis by Agamemnon. The war turns adverse for the Greeks when Hector wreaks havoc and kills Patroclus who fights in Achilles's armor, thinking him to be Achilles.

The best scene of the movie is where Priam (O'Toole) comes to the tent of Achilles to ask for Hector's body, so that he may be cremated with the proper rites. 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.

The fight scene between Achilles and Hector has been filmed very well and I'm surprised that they have borrowed the signature swordplay of Achilles from the martial art form Kalaripayatt. The rest of the movie shows Odysseus's invention the wooden horse, the looting of Troy and the death of Achilles.

Another reason for my disappointment with this movie is how some of the scenes fly off on a trajectory from the book. Achilles was killed on the battlefield from an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo, the sun god and protector of Troy. But he's shown as being killed inside Troy, while rescuing Briseis from Agamemnon. Also the movie entirely circumvents the involvement of the Gods in the battle.

On the whole, the movie was good and the actors were well cast with Pitt and Bana meeting the physical requirements of battle scarred warriors, visually. Both of them play their roles well and Hector seems to have been Homer's real Epic Hero. Achilles is a warrior's warrior, but Hector is the compassionate warrior and follows all the rules which Homer laid down for a character to be called a hero.

Helen is often a tough role to cast, because you need a woman of unearthly beauty to effectively essay the role and beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. For me the movie fell short of my expectation, because the Illiad was one of the earliest books I read and childhood impressions are hard to erase.

A better movie on the Trojan war is ''Elektra'', as Mr. Ebert pointed out, but it is too much of an offbeat movie to bring the Illiad to the general audience. This movie achieves that and as always myths are open to translation simply because of their anachronistic nature.