Troy, to a small extent, is based on Homer’s poem The Illiad, which is considered the oldest and most detailed account of the Trojan War. In this 2600-year old poem, Homer gives detailed descriptions of the deadly battle between the Greeks and Trojans, with scenes of the gods bickering on Mount Olympus, arbitrating the combat, and fighting each other. Although the producers made an effort to make the movie resemble the real Trojan War that is thought to have occurred from 1200 to 1100BC, several historical inaccuracies are still evident in the movie.
The Trojan war took place during the Bronze Age, therefore most of the weapons used should have been made of bronze, however, when King Priam reveals the Sword of Troy to Paris, the sword seemingly looks like it made of steel or iron, as do most of the weapons used in Troy. In reality, during this war, civilization was mainly based on the Bronze Age and iron swords would not have been available. Iron was used to make weapons almost 100 years after the Trojan War by the Philistines.
While some weapons were ahead of their time, some were passed with time, for example, the large round shields and even Achilles’ helmets were used in the Classical period of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. During the Trojan War, the Greeks used small bowl-shaped helmets and the shields were made of leather. Llamas are seen in the movie although they only existed in Latin America and South America during the period and it was many years before these animals were seen in Troy. Finally, the Trojan War was fought for 10 years while it takes just three weeks in the movie (Troy Lies, para. 3).
The filmmakers made the changes to bring more realism to the Trojan War, rather than that depicted by Homer in which there were numerous contacts with the gods. The film mainly illustrates the war between the Greeks and Trojans, all the divine features have been eliminated in order to maintain the universal themes.
The movie Troy is so much informative, it gives aspects of the ancient world and specifically the Trojan War and the happenings during the duration of the war (1200- 1100 BC). To begin, I learnt about the types of weapons used during the period of the Trojan War (1200-1100 BC), not just the weapons, I got to learn of the mode of transportation of the Greeks during the time on water. At the beginning of the film, Paris and his brother, Hector, are on a ship heading home from a peace mission in Sparta. This ship, known as a trireme, has a black hull with sides held together by thwarts that also function as seats for the rowers, as Hector commands his men to steer the ship back to Sparta, we observe them take positions on the rows while others adjust the mast (Troy).
On top of the ship is a stairway that leads to the lower chambers, probably an area for protection from harsh weather. The triremes are used in most of journeys made on water by the soldiers, for example, we observe the Achaeans arriving in Troy in a fleet of triremes. Other transport methods include horse-drawn carriages used in battlefields while other warriors rode on horses. Aside from the mode of transport, the film exposes the Greek culture during the period. For example, two coins were placed on the eyes of the eyes of the dead soldiers before burning them at dusk (Troy).
Finally, the film illustrates the wide usage of wood during the Bronze Age. Most structures are made of wood, from triremes, horse-drawn carriages and even the wooden horse. Some of the training swords also appear to be made of wood, same as the spear handles. However, the architectural design of the city seems to be much more advanced, complex structures have been constructed with excellent touches on the outside part. The inner sections of the city are furnished marvelously, with passageways in between the buildings, the city even has passageway for secretly getting out (Troy).
Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy is a propaganda film that was meant to twist the Greek history, the numerous instances of historical inaccuracies and misrepresentation of people and events can attest to this. For example, according to the movie, Helen did not run away from Menelaus because he was ugly, she was the gift that goddess Aphrodite had vowed to deliver to Paris so that she could beat Hera and Athena to the title of the most beautiful goddess. In fact, Menelaus was more handsome than Paris. Besides, the war was not fought between the Greek and the Trojans, rather, it was between the Greek kingdoms (Troy Lies, para. 2). These are just a few examples of the ‘errors’ that occurred during the shooting of the film.
These distortions are aimed at making the audience believe that the Trojan War was not a war of necessity (despite the huge loses in lives and property), but that for settling personal scores and obtaining other benefits and several instances are evident from the film that prove this other than those illustrated above. Wolfgang Petersen paints the Greek as immoral barbarians, evident from the male characters’ weakness for the women, and married women running with other men.
The producer intended to inflict a sense of hatred for the Europeans and this must have possibly been a strategy aimed at proving to the world that despite being the source of democracy, astronomy, philosophy, science and art, the Greek were not that wise for the start.
The movie exhibits, to a smaller extent, a stereotype towards Christianity. The Trojan priest in the film is known as Archeptolemus, he also doubles up as Priam’s adviser and in several instances, he gives wrong counsel to the king. As the Trojan council is discussing whether they should attack the Greek again and triumph over them once and for all, Hector comprehends that such an action may be in vain and strongly opposes it, but Priam, is fooled by the priest and he gives the go-ahead with the war and this later leads to Hector’s death (Troy).
In another scene, the Greeks leave a wooden horse outside the Trojans camp but unknown to many, the Greek were hiding inside the structure. Despite warnings from Paris that the wooden horse be destroyed, the king orders that the horse be taken into the city as Archeptolemus had promised him that the horse was an present to Poseidon. However, the army inside the horse come out at night and opens the city’s gates to allow the rest of the army in, the Greek army burns up the city and Prium dies in this attack (IMDb, para. 8).
In the two occasions that Archeptolemus gave wrong information, there were deadly results and this might have a negative stereotype directed at the priest’s religion, most probably Christianity, hence the stereotype is a damaging one.
Troy is a depiction of the wars that took place in Europe and the Americas beginning the 10th century, including the Crusader wars in Europe. The events and persons in the film can also be paralleled to the happenings in today’s world.
Paris runs away with Helen (Menelaus’ wife) and this angers Menelaus’ that he plans an attack Troy, his younger brother (Agamemnon) had also had a desire to conquer Troy for he would have the opportunity to control the Aegean Sea (Troy). Agamemnon uses Helen’s running away as a reason to attack Troy while his main reason was the material gain of controlling the Aegean Sea.
This is a common scene today as we see nations and groups use awkward reasons to attach each other, while they have a hidden agenda for their actions. It is not rare to find groups fighting each other due to religious ideologies. For example, several groups have been fighting against their respective governments in countries such as Somali and Pakistan to ensure that their respective constitutions correspond with Muslim teachings while their genuine reason is to gain control and benefit from the various resources, mainly oil and other minerals. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990 to control oil resources is a perfect example.
Works Cited
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Synopsis for Troy. 2004.
Troy Lies. The Lies of Troy. (N. d.). Web.
Troy. Dir. Wolfgang Petersen. Prod. Wolfgang Petersen, Diana Rathbun, Colin Wilson.
DVD. Plan B Entertainment, 2004.