The imagery was absolutely phenomenal. What was truly amazing was to see a world created entirely by computers; so real, so convincing, 'were it possible, it would have deceived the very elect'-- Everything was filmed in front of a green-screen. Every building, every blade of grass, every cloud, bird, wind swept field of wheat, every cliff, stone, elephant, and raging sea were all computer generated; every image the individual possessor of an ethereal quality... Mythic. I've heard complaints that the scripting was terrible, but these are those who probably thought all these Spartans and Persians should speak the Queens English, and are likely the very ones who would balk at the thought of modernizing the language of Shakespeare, all of which doesn't even touch on what I found most enthralling about "300".

I'm sure many who saw this film didn't catch much of the underlying themes. That the film depicted an historic event is not in question-- though specific details certainly are --but what struck me were the religious overtones. One would expect mention of Olympus and 'the gods', even the occasional 'Zeus', but it was odd and strangely chilling to hear Xerxes, portrayed as a seven-and-a-half foot androgynous-- and oddly beautiful --monster, referred to as the Living God, the King of kings, Lord of lords; Glorious, Benevolent, Merciful... I kept thinking, 'Why are they doing this!?'

On top of this, there's Herodotus' description of Xerxes:

"Yet in this large host, there was not a man as handsome as Xerxes or one that might seem more worthy of that great empire than he."

[To those who complain about the scripting, have you read the Illiad? The Odyssey? The Ballad of Gilgamesh?]

...An angel of Light, perhaps. Anointed to rule the known world, with an ego to match. I haven't read Frank Miller's graphic novel from which the film is taken, but I can't imagine the script deviated too far from Miller's. And I can't imagine Miller not grasping or understanding the implication of "King of kings" when he penned those words in the mouths of his charaters. What I'm left with then is a classic tale of Good versus Evil: Good as depicted by hard, callous, and uncompromising Spartans / Evil portrayed by the lovely form of an ego maniacal Xerxes.

And I'm left with another image; that of Satan clothing himself in Light... but unable to cloak his minions within that same false-light of pseudo-righteousness. I saw Satan masquerading himself as God seeking to devour the world, and Sparta standing in the gap.

Christians too are meant to stand in the gap; to win souls but to stand and hold the ground that Jesus won almost two-thousand years ago. We are told not to love our lives, for in His service we could well lose them. 300 Spartans died defending what was right and good; namely, the preservation of their way of life and faith, and Christians are still dying in the face of ungodly attacks, defending their way of life and faith in Christ Jesus.

In the end, of anything, what we fight for, or die for, ultimately defines what we found most precious in life: God, freedom, money, drugs, what-have-you... And this has been true of every generation. We live and die as slaves to our ideals and faith.

Sometimes that's a good thing-- better to die in God's service than to die outside the gates. For everyone else, better to not have born at all.