I watched a DVD of 300 recently and I just want to ask, was it me or did the whole film smell like an ode to the master race? It was well shot. It had great bits of action. It was fairly well acted. It was quite tense, despite the fact that you know whats going to happen. And yet the more I think about it the more it seems to be like a Leni Riefenstahl movie for the 21st century.

Look away now if you don't want to know what happens:

The Spartans are the hardest men ever, super fit, pretty cruel, great pecs, with big beards, and amazing fighting abilities. They are a (white) warrior race and are defending Greek "democracy" (although of course the slaves didn't have a vote) and continually rally round the cry of "freedom". A word (mis) used so often in this film that you think you are in some other Orwellian universe, where double speak is the norm.

They are fighting the

Persians. Hordes and hordes of them. All of whom seem to be non-white, sexually deviant, anti-freedom, and with a lot of body piercings....

If that were not enough they are betrayed by a disfigured and disabled Spartan, who wasn't allowed into the Spartan army for those reasons....

Do I need to spell it out?

A bunch has been written about the parallels between the film and the war in Iraq, but actually I think there is a whole lot more to it....or is it just a piece of Hollywood junk and does anybody care?