Salvete
A while back I saw the miniseries called Helen of Troy in the videostore and i rented it. On the Hellenic Pagan Yahoo! group there was much discussion about the miniseries and about Troy, recently. I'm sure this will happen to when projects like the adaption of the Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield comes of the ground or the movie Alexander.
Anyway, I heard alot of criticism of putting in biblical references, and all. I didn't notice them, but than again I have to watch it several times before I might see it. Here we do have Cassandra as a seer to whom nobody listens. The gods do seem to appear in one scene, where Paris meets the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aprodite. It was a good move to leave the gods out of the war, but yet the influences of the gods, the decisions they make, and all, are mentioned. Maybe not directly, but its there. And more in here than in Troy. Historically, there might be things wrong with it, but that's okay. They weren't making a historical movie, only an adaption of the Illiad which was more or less fiction. Here we see the Achilles we saw in Troy. Here we saw a rather young Menelaus, young that the Troy version, and more likeable. There is even true love between Menelaus and Helene and between Helene and Paris. Ofcourse I personally liked the Menelaus in Troy more than here. Agamemnon do come off as a evil person who even rapes Helene. But Agamemnon does die in Troy like in the movie Troy, but not by the hands of Briseis but more by the hands of his own wife Clytemenastra who kills him while he's taken a bath out of spike for raping her sister and killing their daughter. Even though she was sacrificed to Artemis, Artemis did not jump in. I don't recall it, but I doubt that Clytemenastra really liked her younger sister. I recall something about rivalry between the sisters in mythology. To be honest, i liked the Odysseus in the miniseries the Odyssey beter than the one in Troy or in Helene of Troy.
If the Helene in Helene of Troy was the face that launched a thousands ships, well, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be one of them. But this is usually a problem for filmmakers to find an actrice suitable to play Helene. Concerning Menelaus, he does die in Troy, but Helen is carried of to Greece along with other slaves but not before seeing her loved one in a dream. I think that this might be a biblical reference, but you have to see it for yourself to judge it.
What else is there to say. A great story, stayed closer to the Illiad, but I didn't like the way the actors brought the characters on screen. I didn't root for anyone, but was glad to see most of them die on screen. I was glad that they stayed more closer to the Illiad than the blockbuster movie Troy. It might be good to watch if you have nothing else to do.
A 5 out of 10
valete optime