Troy: Making History
What a classic Hollywood movie. Based on the old Greek legend of the war between the Greeks and Troy, they truly don’t make movies like this anymore. Starring Hollywood legends like Brad Pitt, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Diana Kruger & Eric Bana, this movie is epic with incredible sword fights and large scale mass battles. An incredibly fit Brad Pitt does a great job playing super warrior Achilles.
“We don’t need to control him, we need to unleash him. That man was born to end lives.”
And there are so many, now iconic quotes & conversations from the movie. Especially from Achilles:
“The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal. Because any moment might be our last. Everything’s more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”
“Imagine a king who fights his own battles. Wouldn’t that be a sight?”
“There are no pacts between lions and men.”
“Before my time is done, I will look down on your corpse and smile.”
And he is inspiring, especially before a battle:
“Let no man forget who we are. We are lions! Do you know what’s there, waiting, beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it, it’s yours!”
Why are all men driven by the eternal search for glory?
Achilles: “They’ll be talking about this war for a thousand years.”
Hector: “In a thousand years, the dust from our bones will be gone.”
Achilles: “Yes, Prince. But our names will remain.”
However there are plenty of truths and lessons too.
“You don’t fear anyone, that’s your problem. Fear is useful.”
“Women have a way of complicating things.”
“War is young men dying and old men talking.”
“History remembers kings, not soldiers.”
We see first hand that war is ugly and horrible. And it is something to be avoided where possible.
“Oh, that sounds heroic to you, doesn’t it? To die fighting. Tell me, little brother, have you ever killed a man? Ever see a man die in combat? I’ve killed men, and I’ve heard them dying, I’ve watched them dying and there is nothing glorious about it. Nothing poetic. You say you want to die for love but you know nothing about dying, and you know nothing about love.”
You only fight for the right reasons and when it’s hoisted on you. The Trojan hero says: “All my life, I’ve lived by a code. And the code is simple, honor the gods, love your woman & defend your country. Troy is mother to us all, fight for her.”
King Priam said: “I’ve fought many wars in my time. Some were fought for land, some for power, some for glory. I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest.”
Yet there are the hard eternal truths that we can’t escape. Timely truths as we enter the second half of the raging 2020s. “Peace is for the women and the weak. Empires are forged by war.”
We have entered a new world now of spheres of influence. Take heed of these words: “The gods protect only the strong.”
And live a grandly interesting life. “If they ever tell my story, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat but these names will never die.”