My anticipation was satisfied. I bought my tickets 2 days ago and was eagerly waiting to get to the theatre after work. As you can see, my expectations were really high. Thus, it was not surprising that I felt a little disappointed when the movie started playing (not to mention that I have to overcome an eye irritation stemming from the hand phone screen of a less civic conscious movie goer who was busy checking her message box even after the show has started). A constant narration from one of the characters in the movie was the first thing that got on my nerves (reminds me of another movie where the character constantly hears the voice of a narrator in his everyday life), even though a quick scene told me why it had to be that way. I will not spill the beans here for you.
The pace of the movie was slow initially, and this did not go well with my high expectations from watching the trailer. Then, it sort of quite abruptly picked up the pace and fast forwarded to the action part which left me unsatisfied in terms of trying to get in touch with the characters, because once the action started, there was little room left for this aspect except through the punch lines (beautiful and glorified death for honour, freedom, family, country and Spartan law, sounds familiar?). Some of these were actually pulled from historical tellings of the battle.
The violence in the movie has reached a new aesthetic level with a couple of scenes featuring the beheading of men much like what you see on the Internet the horrendous acts of cruelty and terrorism. There was even a slow motion scene demonstrating how this could happen with much details rendered. But it was not gory like in horror movies, because it was graphically beautified.
There seemed to be a political statement hidden in the movie because, as we know, Persians were considered the ancestors of many modern Middle East countries. The Persian army were also portrayed as such, with Arabic, Asiatic and African looks (apart from the Immortals of course, watch the movie and you will know why). Even the beasts of war and the alchemical weaponry would easily lead you to such a conclusion. And the Spartans or the Greeks were, as you might guessed it already, white British accent actors with a slight tint of Mediterranean features. It was quite funny to see all the Greeks speaking with British accent just as Colin Farrell's Alexander did. This could subtly be construed as a worldview of the West against the rest of the Third World countries in the cause of preserving freedom and democracy. Even religion and rationality were pitted against one another, the former reflecting the Persian empire and the latter, the Spartans. In the plea by the beautiful queen for the entire Spartan army to be sent to aid King Leonidas, you could actually see American government's plea to the Congress for troops to be sent to Iraq. You could also hear a defense made for the American President that he was not the reason for the bringing the war to Iraq, and that it was necessary for the sake of freedom of all Americans back home. I guess I can now understand why there were reports that some left the theatres disgusted, and there were those who stood up in standing ovation.
So, how do see King Jesus in this movie? It was the historical renderings of languages, customs, cultures, practices and most importantly the philosophical grounds that determined the actions of the major characters in the movie, namely King Leonidas and Xerxes, and the traitor, Ephialtes.
What caught my spiritual mind was the titles given to Xerxes - king of kings, god of gods, lord and ruler of the world (I think I first came across such usage in Tom Holland's Persian Fire). It struck me how this was so familiar with New Testament language. My mind started to see echoes of Christ and New Testament from then on. Indeed, there was so much of these echoes in the movie that I knew I had to blog down the moment I reached home. It made me wonder how much of such imagery was running through the minds of the Greeks or Greek speaking audience who were hearing such titles being ascribed to Christ Jesus and how much this influenced them to believe that Jesus was indeed the King of kings, the God King and the ruler of the world. And when Paul used the imagery of putting on the armour of God (like the fabled hoplites and legionnaires), it must have been extremely realistic for them, unlike what we usually do in a Sunday school class where it almost becomes sort of like a role playing game. To those listening to Paul, such forms of language used must have evoked memories of past glories and perceptions of the current world regime.
It led me to ponder the demands of Xerxes on Leonidas. All he needed was a token of water and sand, the symbolic action of kneeling down as a sign of submission that would have meant survival for the Spartans, and even ruling over all of Greece on behalf of the Persian king. To act otherwise meant certain death. I saw how this was almost identical to the demands of satan on Christ Jesus, that all the kingdoms and splendour of this world would be given to Jesus if only He would kneel in submission. It also meant that to do otherwise would mean a certain death, even death on the cross. The gravity of Jesus' actions was so real and He knew from then on, it would be the starting point of the war between the kingdom of God with the powers of this world which would eventually lead to His death and resurrection, His vindication and victory from God. (This is unlike Schweitzer's view that the Lord tried to force the wheels to turn and then threw Himself at it to a crushing death when it did not - according to Wright.) No wonder His ministry begun right after that moment just as the battle intensified right after King Leonidas' rejection of King Xerxes' offer. Jesus began performing so many miracles, casting out demons and healing sicknesses and all these I could see as signs of God's advancing kingdom, encroaching on the strongholds of satan, binding the strongman and setting the captives free. Indeed, the Lord said that if He cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has arrived, and the King himself has arrived and leading the charge!
So, how much of the gospel was actually the clash between the true Lord of heavens and earth against the ruler of this world which Jesus saw falling down to earth? Just as there was no way to defeat King Leonidas at the narrow mountain pass, there was no way satan could destroy Jesus, who was the door and Shepherd guarding over His flock of sheep, accept through the act of betrayal. And just like Ephialtes in the movie, embittered over failed aspirations to regain glory and honour in battle, succumbed to the promises of fleshly lust and earthly riches, Judas Iscariot betrayed the King with a kiss and realised in the end that he has fulfilled the prophecies and condemned an innocent man.
This is where the similarities end between the movie and the gospel. King Leonidas' solution was, using the categories by Wright, the fanatical zeal of the Zealots, dying in a battle for the revolution to succeed and for the kingdom to be established. It was also not the way of the politicians who took Xerxes' bribe and colluded with him to plan the submission of Sparta, working with and under the lordship of the Persian king much like the Herodians and the chief priests. The kingdom of the Lord was not from this world and neither was His way of accomplishing it. He took upon Himself the judgement of the world, in between the chariots of Pharaoh and the Israelites, allowing the Israelites to pass through Him in the baptism at the Red Sea and bringing to an end the powers of the world by letting down the walls of water on the chariots that followed, and allowing the Israelites to be resurrected from the waters just as He was resurrected by God.
In the end, the Greek army was told to remember King Leonidas and by this remembrance they fought to win the decisive battle against the remaining Persian army. It was the greatest assembly of Greek armies. And as Christians, the Spirit reminds us of all that King Jesus has spoken and done, and by this remembrance, we are to defeat the remaining powers of this world by taking on ourselves the judgement of this world (being ridiculed, seen as weak, unsuccessful according to the measurements of the world, and even losing our lives), not fighting with the weapons of the world, but by the Spirit, and anticipate the greatest gathering of God's army in history when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or perhaps in our times, President of presidents, and Prime Minister of prime ministers. For Thine is the kingdom, glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Go watch the movie but keep the children at home. ;-)
The pace of the movie was slow initially, and this did not go well with my high expectations from watching the trailer. Then, it sort of quite abruptly picked up the pace and fast forwarded to the action part which left me unsatisfied in terms of trying to get in touch with the characters, because once the action started, there was little room left for this aspect except through the punch lines (beautiful and glorified death for honour, freedom, family, country and Spartan law, sounds familiar?). Some of these were actually pulled from historical tellings of the battle.
The violence in the movie has reached a new aesthetic level with a couple of scenes featuring the beheading of men much like what you see on the Internet the horrendous acts of cruelty and terrorism. There was even a slow motion scene demonstrating how this could happen with much details rendered. But it was not gory like in horror movies, because it was graphically beautified.
There seemed to be a political statement hidden in the movie because, as we know, Persians were considered the ancestors of many modern Middle East countries. The Persian army were also portrayed as such, with Arabic, Asiatic and African looks (apart from the Immortals of course, watch the movie and you will know why). Even the beasts of war and the alchemical weaponry would easily lead you to such a conclusion. And the Spartans or the Greeks were, as you might guessed it already, white British accent actors with a slight tint of Mediterranean features. It was quite funny to see all the Greeks speaking with British accent just as Colin Farrell's Alexander did. This could subtly be construed as a worldview of the West against the rest of the Third World countries in the cause of preserving freedom and democracy. Even religion and rationality were pitted against one another, the former reflecting the Persian empire and the latter, the Spartans. In the plea by the beautiful queen for the entire Spartan army to be sent to aid King Leonidas, you could actually see American government's plea to the Congress for troops to be sent to Iraq. You could also hear a defense made for the American President that he was not the reason for the bringing the war to Iraq, and that it was necessary for the sake of freedom of all Americans back home. I guess I can now understand why there were reports that some left the theatres disgusted, and there were those who stood up in standing ovation.
So, how do see King Jesus in this movie? It was the historical renderings of languages, customs, cultures, practices and most importantly the philosophical grounds that determined the actions of the major characters in the movie, namely King Leonidas and Xerxes, and the traitor, Ephialtes.
What caught my spiritual mind was the titles given to Xerxes - king of kings, god of gods, lord and ruler of the world (I think I first came across such usage in Tom Holland's Persian Fire). It struck me how this was so familiar with New Testament language. My mind started to see echoes of Christ and New Testament from then on. Indeed, there was so much of these echoes in the movie that I knew I had to blog down the moment I reached home. It made me wonder how much of such imagery was running through the minds of the Greeks or Greek speaking audience who were hearing such titles being ascribed to Christ Jesus and how much this influenced them to believe that Jesus was indeed the King of kings, the God King and the ruler of the world. And when Paul used the imagery of putting on the armour of God (like the fabled hoplites and legionnaires), it must have been extremely realistic for them, unlike what we usually do in a Sunday school class where it almost becomes sort of like a role playing game. To those listening to Paul, such forms of language used must have evoked memories of past glories and perceptions of the current world regime.
It led me to ponder the demands of Xerxes on Leonidas. All he needed was a token of water and sand, the symbolic action of kneeling down as a sign of submission that would have meant survival for the Spartans, and even ruling over all of Greece on behalf of the Persian king. To act otherwise meant certain death. I saw how this was almost identical to the demands of satan on Christ Jesus, that all the kingdoms and splendour of this world would be given to Jesus if only He would kneel in submission. It also meant that to do otherwise would mean a certain death, even death on the cross. The gravity of Jesus' actions was so real and He knew from then on, it would be the starting point of the war between the kingdom of God with the powers of this world which would eventually lead to His death and resurrection, His vindication and victory from God. (This is unlike Schweitzer's view that the Lord tried to force the wheels to turn and then threw Himself at it to a crushing death when it did not - according to Wright.) No wonder His ministry begun right after that moment just as the battle intensified right after King Leonidas' rejection of King Xerxes' offer. Jesus began performing so many miracles, casting out demons and healing sicknesses and all these I could see as signs of God's advancing kingdom, encroaching on the strongholds of satan, binding the strongman and setting the captives free. Indeed, the Lord said that if He cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has arrived, and the King himself has arrived and leading the charge!
So, how much of the gospel was actually the clash between the true Lord of heavens and earth against the ruler of this world which Jesus saw falling down to earth? Just as there was no way to defeat King Leonidas at the narrow mountain pass, there was no way satan could destroy Jesus, who was the door and Shepherd guarding over His flock of sheep, accept through the act of betrayal. And just like Ephialtes in the movie, embittered over failed aspirations to regain glory and honour in battle, succumbed to the promises of fleshly lust and earthly riches, Judas Iscariot betrayed the King with a kiss and realised in the end that he has fulfilled the prophecies and condemned an innocent man.
This is where the similarities end between the movie and the gospel. King Leonidas' solution was, using the categories by Wright, the fanatical zeal of the Zealots, dying in a battle for the revolution to succeed and for the kingdom to be established. It was also not the way of the politicians who took Xerxes' bribe and colluded with him to plan the submission of Sparta, working with and under the lordship of the Persian king much like the Herodians and the chief priests. The kingdom of the Lord was not from this world and neither was His way of accomplishing it. He took upon Himself the judgement of the world, in between the chariots of Pharaoh and the Israelites, allowing the Israelites to pass through Him in the baptism at the Red Sea and bringing to an end the powers of the world by letting down the walls of water on the chariots that followed, and allowing the Israelites to be resurrected from the waters just as He was resurrected by God.
In the end, the Greek army was told to remember King Leonidas and by this remembrance they fought to win the decisive battle against the remaining Persian army. It was the greatest assembly of Greek armies. And as Christians, the Spirit reminds us of all that King Jesus has spoken and done, and by this remembrance, we are to defeat the remaining powers of this world by taking on ourselves the judgement of this world (being ridiculed, seen as weak, unsuccessful according to the measurements of the world, and even losing our lives), not fighting with the weapons of the world, but by the Spirit, and anticipate the greatest gathering of God's army in history when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or perhaps in our times, President of presidents, and Prime Minister of prime ministers. For Thine is the kingdom, glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Go watch the movie but keep the children at home. ;-)
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