Comments on: The Last Stand

By: Vikram

Vikram — Sat, 15 May 2010 12:22:42 +0000

@Ireland: Unfortunately, there is no one alive from that era and i am too young to have witnessed the event that is why i am forced to believe what famous Greek historian Herodotus wrote about it.

The saying “we’ll have our battle in the shade.” which displays their great degree of confidence were loudly said by Dienekes (One of the Spartan soldier present at the Battle of Thermopylae) and is clearly described by Herodotus.

‘Immortals’ was the name given by Herodotus to the elite force of soldiers who fought for the Persian empire.

I totally disagree that i went off the movie a little to much because i believe that i went off the movie far too much to try to cover the the whole event of ‘Battle of Thermopylae’ and the ‘Spartan army’.

As far as grammatical errors are concerned, it can be avoided as appreciating those patriotic people is quite an elegant job i believe.

By: Ireland

Ireland — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:48:34 +0000

and also, how do you know if they were called immortals? it doesn’t make sense. and tons of grammatical errors. ruins it.

By: Ireland

Ireland — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:46:02 +0000

i agree with Palash completely. I know that these events happened and I love 300 the movie. but the way you explained it seems like you went off of the movie a little too much. How do you know that they said “we’ll have our battle in the shade.” or “our arrows will blot out the sun.” Just my opinion but i dont think you did an “elegant” or “beautiful” job explaining this at all.

By: Gideon

Gideon — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:24:49 +0000

Ther last stand of the 300 was one of the greatest in history, and it few know this but the Athenians aslo sent ships to the strait of Salamis to keep the massive persian fleet from coming behind the spartans and flanking them, the athenians recived a message from the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, “The wooden wall alone shall save you”, most historians belive that this message was refering to the Athernian ships which formed a wooden wall to protect Greece. And thermopolye didnt always look like how it appears today, the coast was ounce at the bottom of a 75 foot drop.

By: Vikram

Vikram — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:59:48 +0000

Thanks Romila…..
Rolima can’t you make your husband vote? You there Harish??………..lolzzzzzz

Reason why I chose to write on this was to let people know about not only 300 Spartans but also about the 700 Thespians who stayed till the end with Leonidas for freedom(Movie covers only Sparans). Also I have deliberately kept many of the things out of this blog which are still unknown to many of us because of the increasing length and I will try to write on that may be sometimes later in my next blog on veranda.

By: Romila

Romila — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:58:29 +0000

Great story and one of my husdband’s favourite films - 300

By: Piyush Nigam

Piyush Nigam — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:06:54 +0000

Though the conversation has moved on, i could not resist adding the fact that it is easy to find things worth living for - but for someone who loves his life, finding things worth dying for is a much bigger challenge.
The concept should not be confused with situations where people give up their life as they were unable to find reasons to live for - that is human life at the other end of the spectrum!

By: Harish Agrawal

Harish Agrawal — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:56:13 +0000

@palash - first of all you misunderstood this article to be about movie 300 which it is not. It is about an actual event in history that occurred around 2500 years back. It happened over 2500 years back and all we know about it is from the research that is published by historians. Historians also go by what they interpret from writings (in scripts that are not in use any more), pictures and statues from that era etc. Going by your definition of fact and fiction everything from that time can be termed as fiction because there is no concrete evidence for anything. everything becomes surreal isn’t it?

Though this article is not about the movie 300 i do want to point out that if 300 or Troy were not released as commercial movies how many people would have bothered to watch documentaries or research papers on these topics? How many historians do we really know and read about?

Many writers, or a movie directors dramatize an event or characters to emphasize a point. it is quite evident in writings of Ayn Rand, Charles Dickens and even modern day writers like Arvind Adiga, Vikram Chandra and all.

I feel movies like 300, Brave Heart, Alexander celebrate lives and times of these great men. Now we do not have much evidence of everything they did doesn’t change a thing for me.

By: Palash

Palash — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:46:52 +0000

One thing, the only one that segregates from a story to a fiction is ‘a person’s inherent belief in that thing’. Be it a story, an object or a place.

By: Palash

Palash — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:45:02 +0000

Ritu I mentioned, I have seen the film once or maybe twice.

I wanted to know, which one of our own Indian epic Ramayana or Mahabharata happened first?

By: Swapna

Swapna — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:59:31 +0000

Hi Vikram, I was always fascinated by the history and culture of the Spartans. Your writing was so full of conviction that I was totally glued to it, right from the start till the end. It’s totally gripping, and powerfully rendered. Keep writing please.

By: Vikram Chhetry

Vikram Chhetry — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:20:31 +0000

@Palash, when the Persian emissary comes riding on a horse and shows crowns and skulls of the conquered kings to the spartan councilmen is my favourite scene and many more…..

It does look like a blog on the movie because some of the pictures are taken from the movie itself, but, my motive was to write about the event not about the movie 300.

By: Ritu

Ritu — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:57:19 +0000

Hi Palash,
I think you have only seen the movie 300 and thats why you are looking at it from that prospective only.There is lot written about this epic on internet as well as in books.if you will read about it then may be your prospective will change and you will also be able to look at it as an outstanding example of patriotism, courage, and sacrifice as we do.

I was inspired to read about it only after listening this whole event from Vikram. He used to watch this movie at night and narrate it to me next morning.I was willing to listen or not that didn’t matter.

By: Palash

Palash — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:23:44 +0000

Harish, you are right. But the scenes in the film- they appeared quite powerful and surreal to me. Including the oration. Apologies to King Leonidas and his brave men.

By: Harish Agrawal

Harish Agrawal — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:30:00 +0000

Palash it not fiction, these are events that took place.

By: Palash

Palash — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:30:05 +0000

Hey Vikram,

I have seen the film, once or maybe twice. You went a bit too long in the watching the films. Maybe next time I will ask you to recite your favourite line from the film. True, it is quite appreciative that the producers have invested so much in this epic film 300. A huge amount of money, effort, manpower and above highest levels of techniques used, comprehensively to recreate a story and stitch all the pieces together, in order to bring this legendary epic in front of us. Mes son sen Irrespective of the fact that it is a fiction primarily, the film itself was a delight to watch. I was surprised to see the kind of graphics the Warner Bros have used. Last year, i saw my cousin using a video game, inspired by the kings of Sparta. What was your personal favourite scene?

By: Vikram

Vikram — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:02:38 +0000

I agree Ritu. Also some people are bred to live or die for a cause(pride, honor, justice, freedom etc..). Their training itself includes inspiring lessons which puts their brain beyond that point which helps them overcome the fear and opt the extreme.

By: Ritu

Ritu — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:56:39 +0000

Its not the question of living or dying. I think sometimes you get pushed so far by a thought or cause that you reach a point beyond fear, where there is a strange peace, where one frees himself to do the right thing; because sometimes, that’s the toughest thing to do.May be thats what we call the TRUE INSPIRED STATE.

By: Vikram

Vikram — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:20:57 +0000

In this case, all the warriors specially Spartans had the same cause to live and die for, that was “Freedom“. They were living to protect their freedom and died protecting it.
Living and dying for a cause is equally important but the only difference is “When you are living for a cause, don’t care about dying and when you are dying for a cause don’t care about living.“

By: Ritu

Ritu — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:22:54 +0000

really good one Vikram!!!!!
I am happily surprised to see that how beautifully you have put in this historical event into words.I know how passionate you are about this whole story.I have seen you reading about it so many times, i think almost everyday you read something about it.
But after reading this i can definitely say that the effort you have put into writing this blog was worth it cos its such an inspiring story.It shows that how fighting for a cause makes people come over all the fears.