The movie is exceptionally well-made and pleasing to watch.
The kids love it, it’s bright, the story is clear, there are many, many themes to discuss, and it’s an amazing gateway to Greek mythology and history. It’s definitely a staple in the list of Pagan movies for kids.
However, while Troy has all the aesthetics you could ask for, the story is stripped of all the divine interventions that make The Iliad one of the most important keys to the Homeric Europe mindset, so important for understanding our roots as people.
In The Iliad the Gods are acting along with humans, they take sides and bear responsibility for their choices. In Troy the Gods are only mentioned, and often in sarcastic manner.
There’s a very clear Hollywood trend for de-sacralization of the ancient world and adopting stories to the modern materialistic mindset. Not going to discuss the reasons for that in this post, but most mainstream USA movies about the Pagan times are ignoring and even mocking the Divine, which is why some of these movies become either very mediocre (like the 2014 Hercules) or cringingly propagandistic (like 300).
But thanks to the magnetism of the actors cast in Troy and skilled work of the whole crew, the divinity is shining through the aesthetics and action. We feel things that are not told to us directly.
With that said, let’s go over the good and the bad about Troy:
The bad
- The Gods are not involved in the movie in any way, even though they are taking very, very active part in the war and all other events.
- In general, there is a lot of scrutiny towards divinity throughout the movie – Apollo “does nothing” to avenge for his temple’s desecration (even though originally he guides Paris’ arrow into the Achilles heel), the Trojan priests are made out extremely unlikeable, there’s no Poseidon’s snake strangling Laocoon on the beach, and so on.
- Some factual deviations, e.g. Menelaus gets killed by Hector (in the story Menelaus comes back to Sparta after the war), but they are not too bad.
- Hector is painted as the ultimate “good-guy-patriot”, his pre-battle speech “love your woman/protect your country” is a bit cringe. It’s not as bad as “300” but it’s stepping on that territory.
- None of these one-dimensional images are what we get from the Iliad, or reflect the Homeric mindset that both Achilles and Hector possess.
- The movie doesn’t show us Hector’s mistakes or battlefield fear, while he is vulnerable to that in The Iliad.
- Achilles is portrayed at times confused and going through an inner struggle of “being loyal to no one”, and is presented as a “dying breed” which is an illustration of the forced modern mainstream disdain towards aristocracy. In the story however, Achilles is a demi-god, the chosen one, a man excellent in all aspects of his being – music, bloodthirst, morality, friendship, and so on. The Gods side with him because he is a winner (this comment gets it) Hector is a hero, but Hector is human, and he loses.
The good
Despite Achilles’ character being stripped of many dimensions, thanks to Pitt’s magnetism and the production, we sort of feel him.
The mix of irrational drive for war and glory along with the aristocratic divine spark and mysteriousness is what people love about Achilles in Troy.
The movie has great parallels and comparisons, and is very visual – two brothers Menelaus and Agamemnon versus two brothers Hector and Paris, Andromache vs Helen and so on.
The battle scense and action, the props – no need to go into details, the movie is extremely watchable.
Watch it, discuss it, read further, discover what the story really says.
Troy is a great Pagan movie for kids, the paganfather score is 8/10
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