Its not whats in the books,but clearly an ok movie. Review on Troy Movie

Lot has been said and written about the movie TROY, and I see a lot of people comparing it with benhur and gladiator. I am not very sure its worth that much praise, and I am not very sure about attaching such greatness to it...

The movie stands out in a few aspects such as

=> It is really spectacular to see the 1000 ships heading majestically towards Troy

=> You see real men giving the picture of a real war, and not just animated figures

=> The sound effects are just wonderful

=> No one can help letting out a sigh when the great hero, Hector, falls dead, the portrayal of hector by Eric Bana was superb and so perfect

on the whole, its a good entertainer as a movie.....

Thats the general idea about the movie, and now to my own feelings....

I felt it so infuriating that they spoiled the beauty of Homer's masterpiece.... With the 'fullest' knowledge that it was just ''my way of seeing it'' I still would like to put down a few extracts from the epic here...

The underlying cause of war

=> The goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena were at a wedding party when they caught up a fight as about who is the fairest of the three. The king of Gods, Zeus, refused to be the judge and suggested Paris, son of King Priam of Troy in his stead. Paris was offered bribes by all the 3 but he was most influenced by the offer of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty - she had promised him the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

( In the movie, it is depicted as if the war started out of an extra marital affair of a immoral woman, but it was actually Aphrodite who inflicted the dangerous love in the hearts of Paris and Helen)

=> In the legend by Homer, there is a scene where the two men of Helen - Paris and Menelaus confront each other. Paris who is not much used to war and fighting is defeated by Menelaus. Menelaus drags him on the ground holding the helmet and at this moment Aphrodite intervenes and breaks the strap of the helmet, helping Paris escape in the mist also created by her. Menelaus at the end, survives the war and reaches Sparta after 8 years of wandering, bringing Helen along with him. (The movie says Paris was defeated by Menelaus in a one-to-one fight, and that Paris fell at the feet of Hector, who, killed Menelaus so as to save his brother. Also, Helen escapes through a secret passage, and does not go back to Sparta)

=> The Trojan war last 10 years not 2 weeks as in the movie => Achilles had a special power to survive any wound but the one through his foot. This was because his nymph mother, Thetis, has dipped him in the holy water of river Styx holding his feet. He was killed outside Troy when, aided by God Appolo, Paris shoots an arrow at his heel. (In the movie Achilles was inside the Trojan horse, but in the legend, he was killed long before that. He was never given a chance to enter Troy, he was killed outside Troy. Also, the movie doesnt seem to be giving much importance to his heel, which is his only vulnerable point.)

=> Agamemnon survives war and return home, where he is killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover as he had killed in sacrifice his own daughter (and Clytemnestra's) for a smooth sailing of the war ships. (in the movie, he is killed by Briseis, cousin of Hector, while inside Troy. He never returns home in the movie )

=> Cassandra, daughter of Priam who has a gift of prophecy is always ignored. She foresees these murders but no one believes in her. She had even foreseen Paris would cause the fall of Troy when Paris was still a baby. She had asked them to kill Paris and Paris was carried away to be killed, but saved and brought up shepherds. Cassandra was taken to Sparta by Agamemnon as a war prize. (The movie doesnt even have such a character as Cassandra, who has a very important role)

The movie has many more deviations from the original, but I have listed just few. I feel thats injustice being done to a great epic, though the movie does provide for some audio-visual pleasure.... Anyways, thats just my view. All I would say is,

but if its just a nice movie that you want to see, go for it