Troy Wolfgang Petersen\'s 2004 Movie,

Troy

Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 movie, "Troy" was a visual epic and expertly cast. Although it did vary from the legendary story of the Trojan War, it did however, keep true to several facts of the saga.

Perhaps, the most obvious deviation of the movie is the exclusion of the gods and goddesses, with instead the emphasis is placed on the warriors.

Moreover, rather than approaching the film as a mythological epic, the film takes on a realism as if all the characters and events are true to life, as if it all really happened. Another characterization of the movie is the way in which the older rulers appear foolish for their worship of the gods.

Another deviation is the role of Achilles. In the legend, Achilles, protected by his mother, Thetis, who bathed him as an infant in the rive Styx to make him invulnerable to any weapon, is hidden away by his parents and disguised as a girl (Legend pp). In the movie, Achilles appears not to be hiding, nor is he disguised as a female (Troy pp). In the legend, Odysseus tricks Achilles by placing a weapon in front of the girls and Achilles reaches for it, thus revealing his true identity (Legend pp). In the movie, Achilles actually announces his presence by throwing a weapon at the approaching men, he is neither hiding, nor disguising his identity, nor is he tricked into revealing his identity (Troy pp). Moreover, in the legend, Achilles' son, Pyrrhus, also fought in the war (Trojan pp). While in the movie, there is no mention of Achilles having a son or being married.

In "Troy" one gets the impression that the war lasted maybe a few months or so, however, according to legend, the siege lasted ten years (Judgement pp). The movie was true to legend however, in that Agamemnon did take Achilles' female prisoner, Briseis, for himself, and that Achilles became so angry that he refused to fight for the Greeks any longer (Judgement pp). Also is true to legend that Achilles returned to the war following the death of Patroclus by the hands of Hector and that in turn Hector was killed by Achilles (Judgement pp).

The movie disregards the supernatural powers of the gods and goddesses and creates realistic warfare, however, it changes much of the story concerning the death of Achilles and Paris. Paris does try to shoot Achilles in the back, yet misses and strikes him the heel instead, thus, hitting the only part of his body not protected and Achilles does die from the wound, however, he dies before the Greeks succeed in capturing Troy (Judgement pp). Moreover, Paris also dies soon after in battle (Judgement pp).

After Achilles death and the death of Ajax, the Greeks wanted to end the war and go home, however, Odysseus, masterminded a plan to get the army into Troy by building a huge wooden horse that could house the warriors inside (Judgement pp). Achilles was not alive when the Trojan horse made its way through the gates of Troy, however, in the movie, Achilles is one of the warriors inside the horse and comes to the rescue Briseis, as Troy is burning to the ground (Troy pp). In "Troy" it is at this point that Paris shoots Achilles with the arrow, making himself to be a hero (Troy pp). Yet, in truth Paris was no hero, but a coward, and it if not for Apollo guiding him, he would in all likelihood have never come close to striking Achilles. For Paris was essentially a shepherd, and had only recently returned to Troy, thus, he had no military skills (Judgement pp).

Another way the movie made Paris a hero of sorts, is that he is portrayed as the one who tells his father King Priam to be cautious about the horse. When actually, according to legend, it was his sister Cassandra, a priestess of psychic powers, knew the horse was deceptive and tried to warn her father, but he would not listen (Judgement pp). Then the priest, Laocoon, also tried to warn the Priam to beware of Greeks bearing gifts, yet he too was ignored (Judgement pp).

Another part of the legend that the movie left out was Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess Artemis, in order to obtain favorable winds for the voyage to Troy (Judgement pp). And according to legend, the gods were basically the reason the war lasted ten years. They took great interest. Hera and Athena still resented Paris for not giving them the Apple of Discord, so in turn they helped the Greeks, while Aphrodite helped the Trojans, as did Zeus, and Eris and her brother Ares helped both sides simply because they loved war (Judgement pp). None of this was included in the movie.

Moreover, only Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite and a Trojan royal named Anchises escaped Troy (Judgement pp).

In the movie, it was Achilles who was the first to land on the beaches of Troy, however, according to legend, the first man ashore was Protesilaus, who was killed by Hector (Legend pp). Then the Greeks sent another embassy to Troy to recover Helen, but again were refused, and so the Greek army then settled into a siege that lasted for ten years (Legend pp).