Listen to the Lion

More on "300"

A longer take on 300, from my Examiner column.

To make a new Thermopylae!

It's 1 a.m. Monday and I'm just back from seeing "300." I was hoping to avoid the crowds by going to the last Sunday night showing, but the theater was almost full, mostly with college kids who apparently don't have class in the morning.

The film itself was splendid. It lived up to the gorgeous graphic novel it's based on. It takes many fanciful liberties with the story of the Battle of  Thermopylae, but doesn't lose the essence of what that battle meant.

I think I'll be enjoying the media reaction to it almost as much. The invading Persian army comes from what is now Iran, which invites comparisons to the West's problem with the Islamic Republic, if not the bigger problem of many-headed Islamofascism.

Also, most of the villains have skin of a darker hue than the heroes. So critics will have at least xenophobia, rascism and irrational fear of Islam to bleat about.

Two of my favorite lines from the film that encapsule its most important lessons:

"Sparta will need more sons." The West does too, and daughters. And not just to pay for the welfare state, but to try and keep pace with the demographic wave Islamic societies are producing. America, I think, is the only Western country with a birthrate at the replacement rate, just barely.

"Submission?" Spartan King Leonidas asks the Persian emissary. "Now that's going to be a problem." The West needs to say the same to Islam - submission - at each and every turn.

Empty words

Just a little ramble on how nobody says anything that matters much.

If you've never read Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," do so now. And if you have read it, read it again.

Amazing Grace

My review of Amazing Grace, the new movie about the remarkable William Wilberforce.