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Close the Gates
Back from a week off, and I've returned with some more good stuff. To begin December, we have our friend Fred's review of Gates of Fire. We'll follow the week with my review of Maid in Manhattan. Stick around until next week, it's going to be HUGE!!!!
Gates of Fire Script Review
GATES OF FIRE
Screenplay by David Self
Based on the novel by Stephen Pressfield
(undated draft)
Reviewed by Frederick J. Chiaventone
"This seems to be the era of 'Lost Cause' films. If you recall the review I did on Troy, it was followed quickly by a screenplay on The Alamo and now, here we are transported back to Greece for the famous last stand of Leonidas and his Spartans against Xerxes’ 'Immortals.' There are very few of us old-timers who have not heard of the Spartans or of their cataclysmic engagement with the Persian army of Xerxes at the pass of Thermopylae in 480 BC. For the uninitiated, Sparta was a warrior state of ancient Greece known for the fierceness and implacability of its military forces. To this day, the term 'Spartan' has connotations that imply sparse, rigorous conditions. The old implications however are rather foreign and, to the current observer, only North Korea comes relatively close to the old military-based values espoused by the original Spartans – and that’s rather a far fetched comparison. The tale of the 300 Spartans in the pass at Thermopylae has been told before on the big screen (picture Richard Egan in a bronze helmet and you’re in the ballpark) but no one in recent memory has attempted to reconstruct the environment which produced Leonidas and his colleagues. This, quite frankly, is a tall order.
This is a tough read for the uninitiated -- the names of characters and places, the references to gods, military formations, social and political gatherings do not come easily. I can imagine the genius level readers at the studios scratching their frizzy little heads and reaching for a dictionary every five minutes (sorry folks, the built-in dictionaries on your computers will not cut it, you’re going to have to get a real dictionary next time you send someone out for coffee and doughnuts). There are no warm fuzzies available in the harsh environment recreated by Pressfield and Self, This is a harsh, dog-eat-dog world with precious few amenities and with people motivated to do things which would make the average American fan boy blanch. Suffice it to say that this is not in the Xena: Warrior Princess or Hercules vein although the setting may attract some viewers expecting just such a milieu.
The chief protagonist in this drama is a young man named Zeones or simply 'Zeo.' Orphaned by an Argive raid which destroys his family’s farm (and his family) Zeo later finds himself, a crushed and battered adolescent, among the Spartans who although inclined to kill him outright simply make him a slave. It’s not a prime job for our young hero but after observing the martial prowess of his new captors Zeo decides to stick it out figuring that sooner or later the Spartans will clash with the Argives and he’ll have his revenge. Well, as Robert Burns was fond of saying, 'the best laid plans of mice and men...' and so forth. The Spartans do clash with the Argives and, as predicted, clean their clocks. Zeo, if anything, is horrified by the slaughter which ensues.
But the Spartan leader, Leonidas, has other plans and rather than press his immediate tactical advantage, convinces the surviving Argives that, as it is evident that his Spartans can finish the job, an alliance is both preferable and necessary. The Greeks in general, according to Leonidas, will soon have an even more implacable enemy -- Xerxes and the Persian Empire. The Argives agree that this is likely a necessary alliance and the story proceeds from there. Our young protagonist in the meantime finds himself gradually drawn into the warrior ethos of his Spartan owners (sorry, there’s just not a better term for the relationship) and eventually is befriended by Alexandros, a young Spartan and would-be warrior. Zeo settles into the routine of martial servitude and eventually finds himself accepted in that role by the Spartans at large. Alexandros strives to prove his mettle as a warrior but the premier warrior of the Spartan society, Polynikes, doubts that the youngster has what it takes to make a go of it.
When the ultimate confrontation with the external threat comes, it is Leonidas who offers to plant his Spartans in the path of the oncoming Persian hordes to buy time for his fellow Greeks to get themselves organized. He does this despite his general disdain for his fellow Peloponnesians because he sees the survival of the Greek homeland as the only hope for preserving their varied ways of life as opposed to sinking into the stifling anonymity of the Persian Empire. Leonidas understands that the men he leads into battle will have no hope of survival. Among the volunteers who swell the Spartan ranks are Polynikes, Alexandros, and the ever-present Zeo. Zeo, of course, goes into the campaign not as a soldier but rather as a sort of squire -- hauling weapons and gear -- despite the fact that he has become an exceptional archer. Deciding to place themselves in the most defensible position, the Spartans and their allies choose what in current military terminology would be called a chokepoint – the narrow pass of Thermopylae where they construct some rudimentary fortifications and stand firmly athwart the Persian line of advance.
The Greeks haven’t long to wait. No sooner have the Spartans and their allies rebuilt an old wall as a defensive position when the Persian Army comes into sight and it is a heart stopper. While the Greek defenders -- Spartans, Thebans, Thespians, Helots, et. al. – watch in awe the Persian host fills the landscape before them. There is no doubt that the Spartans and their allies are vastly outnumbered and it is not a question of whether the Persians will win but merely how long they can be held off. It is not long before the adversaries are locked in mortal combat and here, for the weary fan-boy mentality, is the eventual pay-off. It is a bloody, nasty, brutish confrontation. Despite that fact that they are hopelessly outnumbered the Spartans seem to revel in this bloodbath. The screenplay here devolves into a chaos of carnage which, if done with any accuracy, will be somewhat hard for the average viewer to take (think Black Hawk Down writ large and with spears, swords, arrows and axes doing the job of AK-47s and RPGs). The Persian hordes batter the Greeks to bits and the Spartans, knowing that the end is nigh, finally release their allies while they turn to face the enemy alone. Our protagonist Zeo is released by his master, Dienekes, but refuses to leave the field preferring to stand with his doomed comrades. When Alexandros dies of his wounds, Zeo is given his friend’s shield and armor and informed that he has been 'accepted' as a Spartan warrior and he and his new peers turn to face the Persians’ final onslaught.
Okay, I think I’d best leave the story at this point as I’d rather not give away the ending -- no big deal there. If you were paying any attention whatsoever in 8th grade you likely have a fair idea of what happened next. Now, as to what I think of this effort and this is a tough one. This is a film that I would go to see... heck, if done well I would likely get a copy for my home video library (small as that is), but when it comes to large audiences I am less sanguine. For one thing, the battle scenes and costuming alone will require fairly hefty budgets and the talent will have to be at least recognizable as many of the characters are, shall we say, less than lovable. Despite the fact that we trace our civilization’s roots to ancient Greece, the Greece and the Greeks on display here are truly an alien race to modern sensibilities. Don’t kid yourselves, this is not Xena and this is not My Big Fat Greek Wedding it’s more like My Big Fat Greek Carnage and Mayhem Fest. One of the major complaints I heard about Black Hawk Down was the unrelenting, almost oppressively violent atmosphere limned by Ridley Scott. If Gates of Fire is done properly I would easily expect some of the same complaints from the same quarter. Further, I fear that it will be difficult for the viewer to disentangle some of the players for, as I mentioned before, their names do not exactly trip from the tongue – Zeones, Mardonius, Bruxieus, Orontes, Dienekes, Eirene, Polynikes, Alexandros, Diomache – well, you get the picture. Well, I have likely stalled long enough so here is my take on the project; it is a great story overall. Zeones’ displacement followed by a long and arduous apprenticeship in Sparta is, I must say, a bit trying at times. Certainly there is little he can do about it but Zeones’ doesn’t make his apprenticeship in Sparta a very appealing or interesting prospect and thus I am afraid some of the viewers will distance themselves from both the characters and the plot. Yes, there is a spectacular resolution of the tale in the fight for the pass at Thermopylae but it is a while coming and when it does come does so with such a vengeance that, if shot as written, may well have an alienating effect on the audience. Now, the trick to making this a great project, as opposed to a flop, may be targeting the appropriate audience. This is not a summer/popcorn flick -- kids will not stick with the complex plot long enough to see the ending. Older adults however may well see this as the thoughtful, intelligent project which it is. This would speak for opening the film in the Fall. Keep in mind that Universal Pictures bought the rights for this project back in 1998 and, having now read the script, it is understandable that this project has been stuck in development hell. I could say something unflattering about the folks at Universal right now but heck, they wouldn’t get it."
Frederick J. Chiaventone, an award-winning novelist and screenwriter, is a retired Army officer and Professor Emeritus of International Security Affairs at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College. His most recent book, Moon of Bitter Cold, a novel of Red Cloud’s war, has just been nominated for the Pulitzer. His most recent piece for American Heritage magazine (October 2002) is on Native American leadership.
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That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
