What exactly is it about human beings, particularly Americans, that allows for this notion of poetic killing sprees and justifiable violence?  I am not one to claim that no war in history was just.  I couldn't argue that notion with any conviction, even if I wanted to.  But I always feel a little bit guilty shortly after paying eight dollars to be entertained by extreme and completely non-sensical combat.  So what is it then?  Because just like millions of other tantalized Americans, I went to the theatres and watched 300, hoping that it would be every bit as good as it looked in the previews.  I was amazed by the choreography and the murderous skill of the "Spartans."  Mind you, I went in with a much more complete knowledge of the actual Persian wars, and I like to think I'm a little more in touch with reality than most people, yet I was still unable to curb my enthusiasm when a "Spartan" took down a rhino of ludicrous size with one spear throw. 

It's completely stupid, but I loved it.  I wasn't even bothered by the idiot  three rows up that shouted an expletive and started bouncing around in his seat like an autistic teenager, pumping his fist and laughing. "Oooo the power...see, not even a giant rhino can kill these guys...DAMN they're good...," some idiot in my subconscious was too busy informing me.   

I was actually so into the movie that I let go of my hang ups over small issues, like the fact that the Persian Empire was far from evil.  Or that they were actually one of the more merciful powers of their time, and that they were trying to bring "the truth" to the world and free it from its cruel ways. (That and become even more rich, but hey, see a parallel there?)  Who does that sound like to you, a crazy Shiite cleric or a certain Capitalist regime? 

Continuing, I seemed not to mind that the Spartans were probably one of the most brutal, if not THE most brutal people of their time.  I was so caught up in their masterful slaying of the "evil" Persians of 300 that I was actually disappointed that the movie had left out one of the most brilliant tactics the real Spartans had historically used, a feigned retreat that ended with their pursuers impaled by their sudden and unified about face spear thrust.  I was not, to my shame, immediately disappointed by the failure of the movie to display the Spartans as they were.  A necessary evil.  One that years after Thermopylae nearly destroyed the very civilization they so emphatically saved.  And that is what we, as human beings, love about 300.  It escapes the reality that the killing efficiency we are so thrilled by is the very thing that brought terror to the other Greek cities, and certainly to Sparta's slave states in the Peleponese.

The movie I am comparing Gerard Butler's (Leonidas) breakout to will not allow any viewer to escape reality in that way.  It is a movie that came out in November called Harsh Times with Christian Bale (Batman Begins,) probably the best actor of his generation and in my opinion of this century so far.

Bale plays the role of 26 year old Jim Davis, who is one of America's most prized assets, one of its real world super heros, a Special Forces phenom returned home from the Middle East.  He cut through the enemy like they never stood a chance against American battlefield prowess.  He was fluid, he was calm, he was unstoppable.  He destroyed many of our "enemies," much like Leonidas.  The only catch is...it made him crazy.  I'm not kidding you when I say this is as real as movies get.  In some ways it's the Apocalypse Now of our own era of tragic warfare. Different, but just as effective.  It was written and directed by David Ayer, the writer of Training Day, but let me just prepare you: compared to this, Training Day was just another Hollywood good vs. evil schlock-fest.  

Movies tend to water down characters and assign roles and stereotypes without shame, another thing we seem to love in this country.  Movies avoid the ugly gray area of humanity.  Harsh Times refuses to do that, and in so doing it sticks more closely to a reality that a lot of people might find hard to realize as Bale's character is a cross between street thug, war hero, and aspiring police officer.  It almost seems like the movie isn't about anything.  That's not it, it just isn't about ONE thing.  It's about the characters, and it deals with who they are in their entirety instead of just creating some unlikely conflict so that we can all sit back and watch the outcome. 

This movie is a lot closer to a day in the life than any other Hollywood product I have seen.  And while I was watching the movie it occured to me that I respected it a lot more for its honesty.   Bale's character slaps you in the face with a guy any one of us could know.  A little bad, a little good, a lot of in between.  He is supported by great performances by Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under) and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives.)  Yet I found only a few copies of this movie at Blockbuster, and that tells me something.   

I am not telling anyone not to enjoy 300.  For me, it was just the escape I needed, and a solid good vs. evil movie will usually do that.  But go out and give Harsh Times a chance.  I think that it will give you the balance--unless you're bi-polar, in which case this movie might not be a good idea at all--between real world conflict and Hollywood cash campaigns that might keep you well grounded and ready to make a decision the next time a president says it's time to go to war.  It may also remind you that the faces you see every day can be much more complex and tragic than any of us, particularly in America, like to presume.