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Spartans - The Rise & Fall (Including the story of the 300)
RRP: £14.99
Our Price: £4.98 (subject to change)
JUST DULL... A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT
Review date: 2008-08-29 Rating: 2 out of 10
Just a mixture of talking heads with badly produced and repetitive recreations of grainy scenes of Spartan life. I doesn't add to much new information after 3 hours of programming and it soon becomes tedious. If only the BBC has had a hand at this. The old 4:3 aspect ratio doesn't help either. It's cheap, but do not bother.
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Reviews
Detailed documentary of the original Greek warriors
Review date: 2008-02-29 Rating: 8 out of 10
This two-episode documentary explains much more about the ancient Greek civilisation than just a resume of the Spartan 300 episode (when 300 Spartan warriors held off tens of thousands of Persian invaders; a glorious tale captured in graphic novel form by Frank Miller and filmed with staggering visual results in the 2007 movie).
'Spartans: the Rise and Fall' is a complete history of the Spartan civilisation. It explains how a warrior caste was bred and trained, how it fit into the city-state geopolitical situation of the time; how it reached for glory, how it expanded in a generational war against Athens, and how it eventually collapsed after failing to win the peace. The episode of the 300 is only a small piece of the Spartan story and, in three hours, this dvd tells all of it.
The story is explained by half a dozen extremely well versed American historians. You get the impression, as the film cuts between them, that they know the detail and depth of the lives of individual Spartan warriors. These academics have studied Spartan society and its heroes for their whole lives, and their enthusiasm for sharing its quirks and personalities is evident throughout the two episodes. (All the historians have strange hair styles, however, something which has no relevance but you tend to notice after a couple of hours....)
The talking heads are backed up by the inevitable drama reconstructions of well-built men in red cloaks waving swords around, and a very useful series of maps so you don't spend too much time trying to remember where all the vying Greek states were located. You don't get to see too much in the way of Spartan archeology or artowrk -- mainly because they didn't make pots or statues or pictures, but instead made war and killed people! There's a good representation of Athens in its heyday, however.
Overall, this dvd gives a huge chunk of Greek history in an accessible format, with the Spartans at its centre. If you're after blood and glory then you should watch 300 instead; 'Rise and Fall' isn't particualrly thrilling. It is very well detailed and carefully presented, and filled a big gap in our understanding of the Greek and Persian conflict, c400BC.
One big gripe; many of the interviews were filmed in a horrid soft focus, which makes the picture actually look blurred. A daft and pointless effect which only served to irritate.
Otherwise, 8/10.
Excellent Value
Review date: 2007-12-30 Rating: 10 out of 10
Roughly three hours of high quality documentary are on this DVD, and (at the moment) at only £7 represents a bit of a bargain. With scholars like Barry Strauss (Trojan War, Salamis) Donald Kagan (Pericles, The Peloponnesian War) Paul Cartledge (too numerous to mention) and others, the DVD is not only entertaining but highly educational too. There is no `dumbing down' of the subject, and although The 300 is mentioned, it doesn't take up too much space. You get a broad military and social history of Sparta from Helen all the way to their eventual defeat at the hands of the Thebans.
Although not as high profile as the very good `Sparta' with Bettany Hughes, it is just as good, and with the other currently out of press this is only 1/4 of the price, so get it while you can.
Product Details/Specifications
Artist(s):
Spartans
Recording label: IMC Vision
Manufacturer: IMC Vision
EAN: 5016641116555
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2007-09-24
Audience rating: Exempt
Region code: 2
Running time: 200 minutes
Language: English (Unknown)