Fact or fiction? Mostly the latter
From Mel Gibson's Braveheart to Gladiator and thence on to 300, truth tends to take a back seat in Hollywood blockbusters, says Dougal Paver.
Anyone catch 300 on Five last night? A hoot.
Set aside the fact that it was a like a poor man's cross between Gladiator and Conan the Barbarian and chuckle, instead, at its pretence at historical fact.
A quick glance at Wikipedia and you learn that Sparta did not fall to the Persians at all, nor did the kingdom make its last stand with just 300 brave warriors. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good romp.
Should we be bothered by Hollywood's liberal treatment of the facts? We probably should, because whilst most of us aren't gullible, most people are lazy and tend to take stories presented in an historical context as fact unless expressly told otherwise.
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