Iranian Embassy Condemns Movie 300

 Following Iranians’ wide scale reaction to a film recently produced by Warner Brothers Studio titled ‘300’, the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Bangkok issued a statement to voice its strong protest against the distorted nature of the movie. Here is the statement:

In the Name of Allah, The Almighty

The Iranian people are outraged by the movie produced by the Warner Brothers Studio titled “300” purportedly about an epic battle fought between the Persian and Greek armies in 480 B.C., but which is full of deliberate distortions and derogatory depictions of ancient Persia.

It is about the war between the Greek King Leonidas heading an army of 300 Spartans and the Persian Emperor Xerxes commanding an army of one million.

It portraits Iranians as monsters rising from the heart of darkness to destroy the Greek civilization.

Nowadays this notorious and insulting movie is being screened in some of the cinema halls in the Kingdom of Thailand and requires special attention of the farsighted Thai people and the esteemed art lovers.

We are sure the wise and respectful people of the kingdom already have found out the message of the movie which actually is in line with the current concerted efforts by certain Western interest circles to systematically demonize the Iranian nation.

The movie’s slavish imitation of the anti-Iran discourses by those circles is inextricably tied up with its voice-over metaphoric thrust, reflecting a subtle propaganda that feels no obligation to respecting the sensibilities of the Iranian people.

While recognizing that this is not a docudrama and its content is largely fictionalized, that it is a “fantasy” version of a historical past, nonetheless it seems judicious to investigate why the film fails to convey a bare minimum truth about Iranian history and indulges in inventing perverse, demonic images of Persians?!

The movie is so overly racist, so overflowing with vicious stereotype of Persians, as a dangerous, bestial force fatally threatening the civilized “free” world, that conveys an implicit acquiescence to the contemporary discourses of hatred espousing a ‘clash of civilizations’.

Although it may fit within the demands of the hegemonic policies, in today’s globalized context this movie is bound to incite righteous rage by millions of people who can see through its peculiar, biased representation of a historical past the excesses of a hate ideology over form.

The movie openly is distorting the history of the oldest civilization on the earth and it shows the producers chasing a hidden agenda. We feel that this movie not only has done a poor job painting the reality of the past, but also it has humiliated the Iranian culture and the reality of what Iran represented at that era.

Iranian history records celebration of life, light and love. Iranian civilization from the beginning up to now respects all religions and beliefs. Furthermore, the very first human rights ideas were born in Iran at this very same era and the proof to this is at the United Nation’s building today.

The movie not only is trying to distort Iranian history and civilization but also is aimed at the world history and shake the foundations of human insight.

The main concern is that if this kind of manipulation of the truth continues with no criticism and objection the trend of insulting and humiliation will dominate the world cultural atmosphere serving the wishes of warmongers.

The movie is “Part of a comprehensive west’s psychological war aimed at Iranian culture through Hollywood and other media machines who has initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture, and “certainly” the recent movie is a product of such studies.”

The movie’s effort would be fruitless, because “Values in Iranian culture and the Islamic Revolution are too strongly seated to be damaged by such plans.”

Finally the embassy of Islamic republic of Iran has no doubt that Thai people having in mind the long history of more than 400 hundred years of cordial relations with Iran, are aware that the story of the movie is unrealistic and is a birth child of mental fancy of the author and producers.