It doesn't start at the beginning, either. The movie is plainly informed by a wide range of sources on the Trojan War, and I think they made a silly mistake to suggest that the Iliad was the only one, or even more important than any of the others. It doesn't even make a lot of sense as a marketing ploy, as I'm sure "the Trojan War" rings ever bell that "Homer's Iliad" does, and more.
Of course, the IMDB listing Homer as an author of the work is far more asinine than the credits listing his Iliad as an inspiration. I wonder whose doing it was.
He rejects Agamemnon's public apology and acknowledgement that only Achilles to defeat Hector. He rejects seven tripods untarnished by the flame, ten talents of gold, twenty gleaming copper cauldrons, twelve champion racehorses, seven Lesbian women of great beauty and skill at handicrafts, his pick of the gold and bronze of Troy to the extent that his forty ships will carry, twenty Trojan women of his choice (conditional on eventual victory, and Helen excluded), his choice of Agamemnon's [surviving, let's not forget Iphigenia] daughters in marriage (with the largest dowry ever paid, and no bride-price to pay), kingship of seven rich towns of Agamemnon's land, and guaranteed status the equal of Agamemnon's son Orestes. He rejects Briseis, even though Agamemnon has not slept with her. And he goes to bed with Diomede the daughter of Phorbas, whom he kidnapped from Lesbos.
Thanks for the synopsis. You had me a little worried when you mentioned Diomede, because I read is as Diomedes for a moment
This guy needed some work if he was going to be admired or even tolerated by modern audience. And that's without even thinking about the way he
treated Hector's body
. Homer's Achilles is a monster: faithless, lawless, murderous, sacrilegious, and self-destructive. It is a real eye-opener that Alexander the Great admired him so much.
Definitely. The Greek (esp. Hellenic) conception of heroism was very far away from the modern conception. I always thought it would have been interesting to see the response if the "Hercules" TV show had depicted Hercules the way he was described in the original myths, which make Achilles look like a choirboy in comparison.
On another point, I have read on since I last posted, and come to the bit where that discursive old windbag Nestor descibes how he and Odysseus
recruited Achilles (and Patroclus) into Agamemnon's army
. (There is no mention of the compact of Helen's suitors here.) The film-makers indeed took liberties with the material (which was perfectly within the terms of their dramatic licence, and no more than previous authors did). But having Odysseus
Right. I thought of that when I was seeing the scene in the movie. I can't recall if that's the one in the Iliad, but IIRC there is a tradition wherein Achilles is disguised as a woman and placed among many others to hide him from the "recruiters". But Odysseus cleverly provides them a number of gifts, which include a sword, and Achilles immediately reaches for the weapon and reveals himself.
On a related note, Odysseus himself pretends to be crazy earlier to avoid the war. He is found out when someone places the baby Telemachus in the furrow Odysseus is ploughing and the supposedly insane man carefully ploughs around his son. Apparently Troy wasn't that popular a destination with all the Greeks.
By the way, I would like to apologise for my rather tangential response to your post: I was aware of your previous indications that you understood the diversity of the sources for the Trojan War. I ought to have made it clearer that I was addressing the readership at large, and simply taking one of your turns of phrase as a jumping off point to address a misconception that I know you do not share.
No apology needed. I just thought you might have missed the earlier posts.
It doesn't start at the beginning, either. The movie is plainly informed by a wide range of sources on the Trojan War, and I think they made a silly mistake to suggest that the Iliad was the only one, or even more important than any of the others. It doesn't even make a lot of sense as a marketing ploy, as I'm sure "the Trojan War" rings ever bell that "Homer's Iliad" does, and more.
Yeah. I'm just glad that they named the movie "Troy" rather than "Iliad". Funny anecdote - on the way into the movie, I passed a couple who had evidently just left, and this lady seemed very surprised while the guy was explaining to her that there was actually a book and some historical evidence and it wasn't all made up by the film-makers. Then again, maybe that's not funny so much as scary for what it says about the level of education and general knowledge in this country.
Of course, the IMDB listing Homer as an author of the work is far more asinine than the credits listing his Iliad as an inspiration. I wonder whose doing it was.
I give it a pretty darn solid 9. I wasn't overly concerned with the differences from the Iliad. The only downer for me was a few too many shots of Brad Pitt's ass for my liking. But, hey...
I give it an 8. Excellent battle scenes, maybe not as gory as I like but I'm a gorehound. I got just enough of Paris and Helen to want to smack the crap out of the both of 'em. Brad Pitt was better than he had any right to be. Eric Bana was AMAZING. Peter O'Toole classed up the joint nicely (his scene in the tent with Brad Pitt was great) and Brian Cox delivered his lines as only he can: with gritted teeth and intense looks.
I really liked the actress who played Briseis. What else has she done?
I got to go to the film with three attractive young women, which is not a treat I get very often. They had never heard of the Trojan War*: they were going along for a chance to see "Brad with no knickers". So I can't complain.
* One of them wants to borrow my (translated) copy of the Iliad as soon as I have finished re-reading it, so that is about to change.
I got to go to the film with three attractive young women, which is not a treat I get very often. They had never heard of the Trojan War*: they were going along for a chance to see "Brad with no knickers". So I can't complain.
* One of them wants to borrow my (translated) copy of the Iliad as soon as I have finished re-reading it, so that is about to change.
I'll post my thoughts this weekend. 
