Why do I hate the movie TROY (2004) ?

I know this movie is not a recent movie. It is a 2004 movie, meaning that almost 10 years have past since it was first seen in a theatre. But a very good friend of mine invited me yesterday to watch the movie with her and I couldn't refuse. So, I went to her place and we watched Troy.  I don't think my friend was prepared for the storm that occurred when the credits appeared at the end of the movie. Watching this movie after all those year opened a wound that I though was healed.

Why do I hate this movie so much ? Why, each time I watch it, do I want to raise an army and walk to the producer to teach him mythology ?

I think this movie is an insult to Greek mythology and I'll show you why, but first I have to set the stage. I know that Greek mythology changed and evolved through history and I think this is a natural mechanism as we, as a society, evolve too. We need the myth to transform and stick to our ideas and principles, because the symbols are very strong tools of communication. If the purpose of a drastic change in mythology is to serve an idea or a principle, I totally agree with it. And I totally know and accept that when we transform a myth, it is to make it apply to our concept of life and make it appealing to the public.

This is what happened with Troy. Normally, I would play the smart girl and simply enumerate the differences between the traditions. But in the case of Troy, I can't help it. I have to stand for the myth and the characters. Please let me set things right.

I will pass over the hate of gods, the rights of the women, and all the material omitted from the Iliad. Those are usually points the new cinema changes, because our society prefers to think we were always a godless society and that the women were always emancipated and equal to men. I will jump directly to the hearth of the war of Troy, Achilles.

Achilles is the reason I'm so frustrated by this production. He has been my favourite character ever since I started to read mythology a long time ago, and I love him so much. I've even thought "I'd marry him if he was still alive," but we all know that he died centuries ago in front of the wall of Troy. Yes, you read right: in front of the wall, never inside of the city. Achilles never went inside Troy. But this is a minor detail compare to what is coming.

From the beginning to the end of Homer's Iliad, Achilles' mood is the main point of interest. In fact, the victory of the Achaean is based on Achilles' interventions in battle. However, the Greek hero refuse to participate; he had too much anger against the Achaean king. But what happened ? Two lines at the beginning of the poem explain the problem to the reader: Agamemnon, king of the Achaean, claimed Briseis for his own, because his woman-slave, Chriseis, was sacrificed to Apollo. Briseis was the slave of Achilles and he had to give her to Agamemnon and that made him angry and unwilling to participate to battle.

Oh ! I heard you. You think this is love. You're thinking, "poor Achilles, he lost his dear Briseis. That's not fair!" In the Iliad, nothing explain the feelings of Achilles for Briseis. In fact, Briseis is a part of the booty harvested during the looting of the temple of Apollo. She was given to Achilles. Given! So how do you think Achilles feels about this? I think it is more a question of pride than love. To understand that, first you have to understand Achilles.

Who is Achilles? It is a secret to no one, Achilles is the son of a human and a goddess. Even before his conception, Achilles was promised a great fate and his mother knew it. Thetis loved her son and she was scared to loose him as he was mortal. Depending of the tradition, she used different tricks to hide him from his destiny: the Stix water bath, offering him a long life instead of a short and glorious life, or the Lycomede's girls. However, she failed. Achilles, great representation of ancient Greek ideals, preferred a short, but glorious warrior's life to a long and anonymous existence.

In the Iliad, nothing reveal the age of Achilles when he entered the battlefield. But if you read post Homeric documents, you will soon realise Achilles was pretty young when he was first approached by the Achaean, probably around 12 to 15 years old. If you know there is 10 years of siege at Troy before Achilles decides to rampage the Trojans, it means that Achilles was around 25 years old when he died. It also means that Achilles from 15 years old to 25 was surrounded by men who idolized him and begged him to enter the combat. It was his destiny to put an end to this war and he knew it. As he is young and frustrated, he just decided to wait until Agamemnon accepted his conditions to enter the combat.

I mentioned it earlier— we don't know what the real feelings of Achilles for Briseis were. Could it be love that motivated Achilles to stay in his tent, when what he wants is to die gloriously in combat? I don't think so. He is not a romantic hero. I think his pride was hurt when he was obliged to give his toy away. How could Agamemnon be more important than him, hero of heroes? So, because he is young and immature, he just decided to stay in his corner and pout. Yes! He was pouting and nobody could change his mind. It was a question of principle, a question of pride.

So, what brings him into combat? Patrocles' death. Why? Because he loved him, because they were best friends, or because they were lovers. Once again we are not sure about the real feelings of Achilles for Patrocles, but we know that they were close to each other. We also know that Patrocles is defeated on the battlefield not because he is not strong enough to fight, but because he pretends to be Achilles and he is not as strong as him. When Achilles hears of the death of his friend, he becomes full of rage. Is it only for his friend? Probably not. It will also be for himself. "So, you thought you could defeat me so easily?" Pride, immaturity, and rage throw him in combat. He kills and destroys everything in front of him forgetting combat ritual and good manner. He don't needs mortal laws, he is over it, he is half a god and too young to understand the conventions. All he understands is the rage and the pain he has inside.

It is because he considered himself taller than man that Achilles acted like he does in the Iliad. He is the equal of gods. Love is nothing in the Iliad, it is nothing for Achilles.

So, how should they have represented Achilles in Troy? He should have been younger, caring for nothing else but himself, his feeling, and his pain. Achilles was the tallest, the strongest, and the best warrior, but he was too young and had too high an opinion of himself to understand how to behave. He is not a lover seeking love, he is a warrior fighting for glory and pride. That is why I admire him so much and why I'm so disgusted by Achilles in Troy (2004).

I'm passing over a lot of details, among other the death of Agamemnon and the lack of Amazon in the movie, but I touched the core of my idea. Achilles represents the Ancient Greek ideal of a hero and the production had to transform it to stick to our concept of a hero what means an experienced and skilled warrior that has to prove his heterosexuality by fighting for love. Achilles is deeper than his representation in Troy (2004) and I hope I gave you enough details to believe it and the taste to learn more about this great hero.