I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot this year, but, disclaimer: this is legitimately one of my favorite movies of all time, if not my straight up favorite. It’s likely due to the combination of historical fantasy, mythology, and military history the film presents. It’s got quotable moments, it’s got action, and it’s got a somewhat different spin on the Trojan War than permeates popular culture I think.
So what was the Trojan War? Most people might throw out Helen and Paris as the two key figures and say it was a war for one woman. Others might go more specific and tell you Paris (a prince of the city-state Troy) fell in love with the wife of Menelaus (king of a Greek city-state) and the two made off one night. In a rage, Menelaus went to his brother Agamemnon who decided to help his brother seek revenge and get his wife back. By the way, Agamemnon had conquered pretty much all of Greece at this point and had a massive army at his disposal. Still others will dive even deeper and bring up a contest between the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. They basically had a beauty contest and picked one lucky (or unlucky) mortal to be their judge (e.g. Paris). In addition to strutting their stuff, they each promised Paris different things if he picked them. Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife. In short, the man chose Aphrodite.
So somebody ends up getting screwed over by the gods, that happens all the time in Greek mythology. Turns out the other gods get a vested interest in the war as well. Hera and Athena (because Paris didn’t pick them) side with the Greeks, Aphrodite defends Troy. Apollo, the patron god of Troy sides with Troy, Ares being Ares just fights wherever. By the end, pretty much all the major gods are involved and its such a mess that Zeus has to call an Olympian ceasefire and the gods just sit there and watch the war… for 10 years.
The final lasting image of the Trojan War on pop-culture is that of the Trojan Horse. We’ll get to that later, as the movie does a decent job of presenting the Trojan Horse scenes.
Let’s begin with the film… at the beginning. Novel concept I know…
We begin not with Paris stealing Helen, or a contest of goddesses, but with Agamemnon settling his affairs with the last free king of Greece. The battle is decided in the classic “your best against my best” format. This was a surprisingly common format for settling battles in different cultures across the world, and across history. Agamemnon’s best is none other than the protagonist of this movie, Achilles, the greatest warrior in the world. In mythology, Achilles was an all-but-invincible warrior who famously had one weak-point: his heel (we’re all familiar with the Achilles tendon right?). This was because when he was a baby, his mother Thetis (a demigoddess in simplistic terms) tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the River Styx. It would’ve worked, save that she was holding him by his heel, thus leaving that one spot vulnerable.
Here, we have none of that. Achilles openly rejects the notion that he can’t be killed within two minutes of us meeting him. In this telling of the Trojan War, Achilles is a simple man who only wants to be remembered as the greatest warrior of all time. He cares nothing for the politics of other kings and especially hates Agamemnon who uses Achilles’ talents to get what he wants. But if Achilles is so great, why does he put up with Agamemnon? Because as great as Achilles is, Agamemnon has the armies to crush him. Remember, this isn’t the immortal Achilles we’re dealing with here.
In fact, this movie stays (for the most part) far away from the mythological and fantastic elements of the Trojan War. None of the gods appear in this movie, and the handling of other iconic moments from the war are handled beautifully. Save for one scene: the scene with Thetis.
The short rundown is that while Agamemnon’s off being Agamemnon, his brother Menelaus is hosting two princes of Troy, Hector and Paris, to celebrate a recent alliance between the two city-states. Paris makes off with Helen, and Hector, knowing its too late to keep Menelaus from going to his brother, agrees to keep sailing on for Troy. Sure enough, Menelaus goes to Agamemnon who agrees to launch of fleet of a thousand ships at Troy to retrieve his brother’s wife. Why would Agamemnon commit so much for his brother’s honor? Trade and power. Agamemnon had been eyeing Troy from across the Aegean Sea for years. Conquering Troy would secure Agamemnon’s empire and eliminate his biggest rival.
Back to Achilles. The call to arms has been sent out and he’s debating whether to go to war or not. It’s at this point we get a scene of him having a conversation with his mother, Thetis. It’s the only time any sort of divine being appears in the movie. Her sole purpose is to prophesize that should he partake in this war he would never be forgotten in the annals of history but he would never return from it. She provides everyone with very obvious foreshadowing that would probably have been better suited to be delivered by Odysseus who delivers the news to Achilles a scene earlier about the war between Greece and Troy. Surely Odysseus, cleverest of all the Greeks could’ve told Achilles that and kept the gods out of this movie. Because in my opinion, the lack of divine intervention is what makes the movie so intriguing. It’s a snapshot of how possible events and the reporting of them could lead to myths and legends being spun.
Cut to Troy where we see a surprising amount of King Priam and Hector’s wife throughout the movie. The film actively seeks to make the audience sympathize the with the Trojans and demonizes Menelaus and Agamemnon. Every scene with Hector not in armor also features his wife and newborn son. The Trojans wear tie-dye robes and colorful dresses compared to the Greeks who we almost see exclusively in armor. Cultured, advanced city vs. warmongering barbarians.
So the Greeks sail for Troy, establish their foothold and the war begins. While the major clashes between the army are quite a spectacle, the primary focus of the movie remains on the battles between heroes. Paris vs. Menelaus, Hector vs. Ajax, Hector vs. Patroclus, Hector vs. Achilles, etc. Before the true spectacle can begin, Achilles captures the young daughter of Priam, Briseis, in the temple of Apollo and starts a strange, rapidly evolving relationship from captor, to rescuer, to lover. Achilles also beheads the statue of Apollo at the temple, a symbolic message that this movie will not be delving deep into the fantasy elements of this war.
Let’s begin our series of duels. First up is Menelaus vs. Paris. The former is a seasoned warrior and the latter is a young lover. It goes exactly as you would expect, save that Hector intervenes and kills Menelaus before he can kill Paris. So the Trojans are treacherous scum right? Except that before the fight the movie goes out of its way to show an aside between Agamemnon and Menelaus where the former says he wouldn’t honor the terms of the fight even if Menelaus was victorious. He came for Troy. For every low-blow the Trojans deliver, the Greeks always come out looking worse, rather through intentions or actions.
But Achilles is there so the Greeks are fine right? Except that Agamemnon enraged Achilles by taking Briseis as his own spoil in the earlier battle and now Achilles is sitting out the battles. Hector meanwhile is able to lead the Trojans to victory over Agamemnon, defeating the mighty warrior Ajax in the process. The Greeks retreat and the Trojans celebrate.
However, it turns out the Trojans are plagued by more than just the Greeks, they’re plagued by their own terrible decision making. One would think that as lead commander, Hector’s voice would carry the most weight in a war council. Turns out Priam is a very pious man and heeds the advice of a head priest who claims to have read signs hinting at a great victory tomorrow. Hector, wise to the fact Achilles sat out the first battle doesn’t want to risk uniting the Greeks by attacking their camp. Priam sides with the priest, and Hector begrudgingly sets out to prepare his men.
Meanwhile, Achilles is on the verge of going home. He saves Briseis from Agamemnon’s men and takes her back to the tent with him (that bizarre, rapid evolution of their relationship I mentioned earlier). Really their entire affair makes little sense if you think about it… It’s a strange cross between Stockholm Syndrome and the Florence Nightingale Effect leaning towards the former no matter how hard the movie tries to spin it as the latter. He’s contemplating returning home and leaving the Greeks to whatever fate they find on the sands of Troy.
The Trojans attack, and once again Achilles and his Myrmidon are sitting out. OR ARE THEY? Achilles leads the charge up the beach to meet Hector and the two duel and… Hector wins? Turns out it wasn’t Achilles, but his young cousin Patroclus the whole time. Suddenly Achilles is filled with the desire for revenge and goes out to challenge Hector in one of the most iconic moments of the entire war. While the two don’t circle the city a full seven times in their fight, it goes through numerous stages. I’ve often looked for a symbolic ‘seven stages’ in this scene and can’t say I’ve ever found it. As expected, Achilles is triumphant and takes Hector’s body back to the Greek camp as a further act of petty revenge. But he’s accomplished his goal and can at least sail home in the morning right?
Enter Priam who sneaks into the Greek camp to beg for his son’s body back. Achilles is moved by the king’s words and agrees, returning Briseis to her father as well. They also enter into a two week ceasefire which Agamemnon is persuaded to honor, not out of compassion or tradition, but by Odysseus.
While not a major character in the movie, in the lore Odysseus is pressured by Agamemnon to fight in this war. He never really wanted to leave his wife and child back home in Ithaca, and he spends the entire war wanting nothing more than to get back home. He launches a gambit that we know today as the Trojan Horse to end what was in history/mythology a 10-year war. In the film, the war is much shorter and Odysseus is just a Greek who wants to go home and save as many Greeks as he can. He believes that even without Hector, the Greeks won’t win a straight up battle with the Trojans. They need treachery. So he devises a plan to build a giant wooden horse as an offering for Poseidon and have the Greeks pretend to sail away. A few men would hide inside and when the horse is taken inside the city to the temple of Poseidon, at night, the Greeks would slip out and open the gates for the rest of the army to sack the city.
Achilles catches wind of this plan (because how can you not notice a giant wooden horse getting built?) and decides he needs to stay and ensure that Briseis survives the sacking of Troy. Why? Reverse-Stockholm Syndrome. Achilles’s motivations are really shallow throughout this entire movie. Fight for glory, don’t fight to spite Agamemnon, fight for revenge, fight for a one-night stand. To be fair, Achilles isn’t that intricate a character in the source material but his motivations in the final act could’ve been less cliche.
Remember back when I said the Trojans made bad decisions? Well, when they stumble upon the ruins of the Greek camp and find the offering, Paris urges his father to burn it. Again the head priest steps in and says it’s an offering to Poseidon and should be taken to the temple in the city. Pious Priam again sides with the priest. Besides, Paris started the whole chain of events that led to the death of his eldest son so…
Hold on a second. Why a horse for Poseidon? Isn’t he the god of the sea? Short answer: he’s also the lord of horses. Back in the day, Poseidon fell in love with the goddess of nature, Demeter and wanted to win her over. Depending on the version you hear, he pursued her in the form of a horse or he made the horse himself to please her. Basically, there are a lot of variations to the Greek myths depending on which vase or wall you’re looking at and which town you found it in. One thing’s for certain though, Poseidon was lord of the sea and big into horses.
Night falls and the Greeks open the gates and the sacking of Troy begins. Achilles heads the opposite direction to save Briseis who is in turn looking for Paris who is likewise looking for her. It’s a chaotic mess in a burning city. Agamemnon kills Priam by stabbing him in the back in a temple of the gods while the Greeks loot the place and topple the idols. He then comes across Briseis praying and decides to kill her himself. That’s when Achilles shows up and kills Agamemnon. Enter Paris, who sees Achilles with his sister and assuming the worst begins to shoot Achilles with his bow. The first bolt flies through Achilles’s ankle.
He turns to fight Paris who unloads arrow after arrow into Achilles’s chest. Achilles, being the legendary hero that he is destined to be, pulls the arrows out, but succumbs to his wounds. Briseis, after a heartfelt goodbye, flees with Paris and Helen (and Aeneas carrying his grandfather on his back!). Achilles is left to be found dead by the other Greeks who only see the warrior with a single arrow through his heel and a bunch of other broken arrows scattered around him. It’s an absolutely brilliant shot.
And there you have it. Troy. While it (for the most part) actively goes out of its way to distance itself from the supernatural elements that populate The Iliad, it leaves spaces that could easily be filled to account for the myths and legends that arose out of the Trojan War. Rather than seeing how actual events led to the telling of legends, this is an interesting look back and attempt at reverse engineering some possible explanations for the widely known legend. Does it hold to its source material? No. The final act is a wild variation from The Iliad, though it does include an easter egg for those familiar with The Aeneid. Is it that smart of a movie? Not really. At its heart it’s a fun action movie with great fight scenes. But at its soul, I think it offers just a little bit more than it’s given credit for. Plus, how can you say “no” to that cast?
Samuel G Whitesell 