Troy is a movie released on May 14, 2004 about the Trojan War, which is described in Homer's Iliad and other Greek myths as having taken place in Anatolia (modern Turkey) around the 13th or 12th century BC. It stars, among others: Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Diane Kruger as Helen, and Peter O'Toole as Priam. It is directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the year 1193 B.C, Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, rules most of the civilized world. But the city of Troy, known for its great defensive walls, is untouched. When Troy's younger prince, Paris, woos the beautiful Helen away from her husband, Menelaus, king of Sparta and brother of Agamemnon, Menelaus convinces Agamemnon to continue his imperialistic conquests and attack Troy. Achilles and his team of elite Myrmidon warriors assist the invasion.

Finance and Reaction

Troy screening's have earned its makers $133 million in the United States. Having cost $175 million to make, some thought that it was a flop - a complete financial failure. Many critics anticipated the failure when Troy barely missed the $50 million mark on its opening US weekend and wrote off the film. Some critics had a tendency to lump Troy into the category of recent failed historical epics, which have also included Alexander (2004), and The Alamo (2004). Troy had been compared to Gladiator, not just because of gory ancient battles, but also due to director Wolfgang Petersen's regrets over turning down the chance to work on that film. Troy ended up a financial success because more than 70% of its revenues were made outside of the U.S. Eventually Troy made half a billion dollars worldwide, placing it in the #35 spot of top box office hits of all time. This is 12 places above Gladiator and 5 places above Saving Private Ryan (1998), which are both considered successful.

Despite its financial success, Troy met mixed reactions by reviewers and movie lovers. According to Rotten Tomatoes, only 55% of the reviews are positive. Roger Ebert, who seemed to dislike what he saw as an unfaithful adaptation of the Iliad, gave it two stars out of four [1]. Ebert claimed that Troy "sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies." David Denby of The New Yorker, however, seemed to like it[2]: "[It's] harsh, serious, and both exhilarating and tragic, the right tonal combination for Homer."

Box Office Totals

• Budget - $175,000,000
  
• Marketing cost - $50 million
  
• Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $46,865,412
  
• Total Domestic Grosses - $133,378,256
  
• Total Overseas Grosses - $364,000,000
  
• Total Worldwide Grosses - $497,378,256
  

Deviations from Homer's version of the myth

It would be difficult to give a fair assessment as to the historical accuracy of the film; there is very little if any "historical" accuracy for a legendary tale, just different versions of the myth. The actual events regarding the archaeological remains associated with the myths in Iliad are extremely uncertain at best. One, however, can compare the film to Homer's/the Epic Cycle's original story, from which the filmmakers derive their story.

The biggest discrepancy is the absence of the gods. In the movie, the gods are repeatedly mentioned, but the Iliad has them as major characters. Most of the major events of the Iliad are the result of divine interventions. The absence of the gods is the root of most of the film's discrepancies as the results of their actions make very little sense without them overtly working. Though Achilles' mother, Thetis, does make a brief appearance and displays prophetic powers, she is not identified as a goddess except when the page boy speaks to Achilles of the legends surrounding him. Achilles answers the boy in such a way that it seems Achilles himself doesn't believe the legends. In the mythology, Thetis has no powers of prophecy.

According to the Iliad, the entire war from the time of Helen's abduction by Paris until the fall of Troy took ten years and not the few weeks depicted in the movie. The Iliad begins with the falling out between Achilles and Agamemnon, which takes place approximately ten years into the conflict. Some characters are missing in the movie (notably, Diomedes, Idomeneus, Calchas, and Cassandra); others are killed differently than is described in the myth. There is also a lengthy romance between Achilles and his captive Briseis which does not exist in the original story.

In fact, in the Iliad, Briseis, along with Chryseis, are kidnapped when the Achaeans sack the town of Chryse, an ally of Troy. Briseis was given to Achilles and Chryseis to Agamemnon. It was not until Agamemnon was force to return Chryseis that he demanded Briseis from Achilles.

In the movie, after Paris and Helen make it to Troy and are together in his room, he offers to take her away from Troy so Menalaus and Agamemnon will not find them. She replies that she cannot make him leave his home for her and he answers that she left hers for him. Helen then mentions that she was sent by her parents to Sparta, but that it was never her home. This assertion has no basis in myth, because Sparta was Helen's birth place, she was a Spartan princess. Helen was one sibling among two sets of twins that were the children of Leda after she was seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan. Her twin sister was Clytemnestra and her brothers were Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri. Her adoptive father, King Tyndareus, named Menelaus his successor after Helen's brothers Castor and Pollux died.

In the movie, the duel between Paris and Menalaus takes place with an understanding on both sides that the results of the duel will not be honored (i.e. the war will not be decided solely by it). Hector knows that the Greeks did not sail the distance just for one man's wife, and Agamemnon only agrees to the duel once Menalaus suggests that it would be a good pretence for a surprise attack. In the Iliad, the duel was understood to be taking place in good faith (interestingly, Paris challenged any Greek who would fight him only to sulk back into the ranks when Menalaus was produced, until Hector persuaded him to fight). Paris begins to lose the duel, but is rescued by Aphrodite who wisks him away to his room, where he is berated by Helen for his cowardice. The movie takes a different course, having Hector intervene to save his brother by killing Menalaus himself and allowing Helen a more modern-day sympathy for Paris' plight, declaring "I don't want a hero, my love, I want a man I can grow old with".

There are a number of other discrepancies between the mythology and the story given in the movie. In the movie, Paris woos Helen during peace talks between the Greeks and the Trojans. However, in mythology, Paris is given Helen during the Judgement of Paris, in which Paris chooses Aphrodite as the fairest goddess on Olympus in return for the love of the most beautiful woman. In the movie, it seems as if Paris is unmarried as he speaks to Hector about his wavering love life but, in mythology, Paris was wed to the nymph Oenone. He then abandons Oenone and their child, Corythus, for Helen.

In the movie, when Priam comes to beg for the body of Hector he says that Achilles's father died before his time. In mythology, Achilles returns the body because he recognizes that the way Priam grieves for Hector is the way that his father (who is living and awaiting his return) will one day grieve for him. In the Iliad, Priam had fifty sons before the Trojan war; at the time of Hector's death, only nine remained (Helenus, Paris, Agathon, Pammon, Antiphonus, Polites, Deiphobus, Hippothous, and Dius). In addition, when Priam came into Achilles's tent, the two were not alone (Automedon and Alcimus were present) and Priam came bearing a sizable ransom for the body. Both Priam and Achilles had been coached by the gods regarding this encounter. Whereas in the movie, Priam departs the tent of Achilles early in the morning, in the Iliad, Priam is roused during the night by Hermes who tells him to leave on the basis that it is ill advised to sleep in the tent of the enemy.

In the movie, Menelaus is slain by Hector to save Paris when he flees from the fight between him and Menelaus. Also, Helen escapes the burning of Troy with Paris. In mythology Menelaus survives and returns to Greece with Helen, where they die of old age years later. In the movie, Agamemnon is killed by Briseis when he taunts her, but in mythology Agamemnon lives to return to Greece where he is killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover.

In the movie, Patroclus is the cousin of Achilles, while in mythology he was Achilles's best friend and/or lover. In the movie, Paris warns against the acceptance of the Trojan Horse, but in mythology a Trojan priest named Laocoön warns against the acceptance of the Trojan Horse. Laocoön is then killed by a sea serpent, making the Trojans believe that the gods want them to accept the horse. In the movie, the Trojan horse fits right through the gates of Troy, while in mythology the Trojans' walls had to be partially disassembled for the Trojan horse to fit through.

In the movie, Achilles is killed by Paris during the burning of Troy; however, in mythology Paris shoots Achilles in the heel with an arrow guided by Apollo. This happens before the Trojan Horse is even built and thus Achilles never would have entered the horse. Additionally, there is no mention in the Iliad of Achilles returning Briseis to Priam nor of him entering the city to save her from the burning of Troy.

In the movie, Priam is killed by Agamemnon, while in mythology, Achilles's son, Neoptolemus, kills him. In the movie, Patroclus is killed by Hector, who mistakes him as Achilles. In mythology, Patroclus is wounded by Euphorbos and Hector spears him in the belly, knowing that he is Patroclus in Achilles' armor.

In the movie, Ajax is killed by Hector in battle. In mythology, that battle is inconclusive, at the behest of Zeus, on the basis of darkness. In the Iliad, the two exchange gifts at this point. In the movie, events unwind similarly except that, instead of gifts, it's Hector killing Ajax. Additionally, whereas the two meet randomly on the field of battle in the movie, in the Iliad, Ajax wins a lottery to accept Hector's challenge. After Achilles' death, Ajax and Odysseus compete for Achilles' armor. When Ajax loses, he flies into a fit of rage, attacks a flock of sheep which he mistakes for Greeks. According to another myth, he swears revenge on the Greeks and attacks their cattle. In both, he ultimately commits suicide.

In the movie, Paris escapes the burning of Troy, while in mythology Paris is killed by Philoctetes. In the movie, Astyanax, the son of Hector, escapes the burning of Troy with his mother, Andromache. In mythology, Astyanax is thrown to his death from the walls of Troy, and Andromache becomes the slave of Neoptolemus. Also in the movie Aeneas is portrayed as a normal Trojan citizen, but in mythology Aeneas was the son-in-law of Priam and second-in-command of the Trojan forces.

In the movie, Achilles is the first Greek ashore; in mythology, Protesilaus was the first Greek to land on the shore of Troy and thereby fulfill the prophecy that the first Greek to land on the Trojan shore would be killed immediately.

In the movie, Achilles has no knowledge of Patroclus's scheme to wear his armor into battle. In the Iliad, Achilles agrees to the plan which is forged by Nestor. In the movie, combat ends near the beach head after the death of Patroclus; in the Iliad, the counterattack pushes the Trojan forces to their city walls. Additionally, in mythology, Hector is only able to slay Patroclus with the aid of Apollo, who strips him of his armor and gives it to Hector. This is followed in mythology by a battle over the remains of Patroclus, but the film has Odysseus and Hector engineer a truce.

Whereas in the film, Achilles seeks revenge for the death of Patroclus by doning his armor and heading off towards a duel with Hector, in the Iliad, Achilles first had to wait for Hephaestus to forge him a new suit of armor and there was an intervening battle before the duel. There is also a battle between Achilles and Xanthus, the stream god, who is angered that Achilles has filled his river with corpses immediately preceding the duel.

Whereas in the film, Hector marches out from behind the walls to fight Achilles, in the Iliad, he is already outside--having advised his soldiers to camp outside the city walls--and instead flees three times around the city walls until he is tricked to stand and fight by the goddess Athena who appears as Hector's comrade Deiphobus and offers to help him double-team Achilles.

The fact that Hector has stolen Achilles' armor becomes critical to the plot of the Iliad because Achilles is able to exploit the armor's weakness's and quickly land a spear in the vicinity of Hector's neck. This is followed by a plea from Hector to respect funeral rights, which is mocked by Achilles who promises to mutilate Hector's body. In the film, this exchange takes place before the duel.

Whereas in the film, Achilles returns the body of Hector the night following the duel, in the Iliad, he continues to drag the body around the funeral bier of Patroclus for nine days, until the gods intervene, deciding that Hector deserves a proper burial.

In the movie, Priam presents the Sword of Troy to Paris who uses it to battle Menelaus and later gives to Aeneas as both are escaping the city. These events have no basis in mythology.

In mythology Priam was delivered safely to the tent of Achilles by the god Hermes. In the film, Priam claims his superior knowledge of the lay of the land allowed him passage.

Additionally, in the film Hector is portrayed as a near atheist who openly confronts augurers in the war council over their predictioins. He also dismisses Apollo's patronage of the city to Priam by cynically asking "how many battalions" the sun god commands. In this way, the film attempts to modernize the character of Hector, as if his theological understanding were before his time. Such a portrayal is not grounded in mythology.

Achilles, similarly, shows contempt for Apollo by beheading his statue and sacking his temple despite the warnings of his comrades. He tells Briseis that she will find her love affair with Apollo one-sided and posits that the gods envy mortals. Although, in mythology, Achilles did have a special relationship with the gods, having an immortal mother and having been bestowed with supernatural protection, such a depiction of his theological views is not entirely accurate. In the Iliad it is Achilles who offers to protect the prophet Calchas against Agamemnon in exchange for his advice as to how to end the wrath of Apollo. Also, no Greek would describe worship of the gods as a "one-sided" love affair. Their mythology is full of very double-sided affairs and when they are one-sided, it's usually because the human resists.

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