Helen Of Troy (DVD)

...Agamemnon's shadow. When they see Helen they both desire her and this fuels the rivalry between them.

Helen feels very uncomfortable about the attention she is getting from both men and in trying to escape their attention winds up being kidnapped by King Theseus (Stellan Skarsgard) who is the King of Athens and who declares that it is his intention to marry her. Although Helen fights against her imprisonment at first, both she and ...
...the state of affairs between Helen and Theseus kills him in a bid to rescue Helen. Theseus with his last dying breath kills Pollux and Helen returns home to her father Tyndareus devasted. This is the last straw for Tyndareus who, having lost his son and heir, is now surrounded by the Kings of the Aegean who are drawn to Sparta to see what spoils they can get. Tyndareus basically throws Helen to the wolves and casts her off telling the visting Kings ... more

The story of Troy is a well known one and I think this is one of the better versions out there although by no means the best.

The film opens with a few scenes of different characters in the movie as the narrator, who we later learn is Menelaus, tells that what is to follow are the true events surrounding the great Trojan war and the downfall of the mighty city of Troy.

We then see a young Cassandra running to her parents King Priam played by John Rhys-Davies and Queen Hecuba played by Maryam D'Abo. The Queen has just given birth to a baby son who has been named Alexandros. However Cassandra warns them that this child will bring about the destruction of Troy unless they kill him. Both parents believe wholeheartedly in Cassandra's predictions and so arrange for Alexandros to be left atop a hillside to die. However a passerby finds Alexandros takes pity on him and saves him bringing him up as his own son and renaming him Paris.

A few years later the now grown up Paris played by Matthew Marsden, chases a stray goat into a cave. Overheated from the run he takes a sip of water and starts to feel dizzy and a vision appears before him of the three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. The goddesses are having a debate about who is the fairest among them and they have decided that Paris is to choose the winner. In order to sway his judgement they each offer a prize for picking them. Athena offers great wisdom, Hera offers great Kingdoms and wealth and Aphrodite offers the most beautiful woman in the world and shows Paris a vision of Helen.

At the same time that Paris is looking at this vision of Helen, she is also seeing his face through a vision in a pool.

When we first see Helen, played by Sienna Guillory she is portrayed as young and childish. So when the great King Agamemnon (Rufus Sewell) arrives with his brother Menelaus (James Callis) for Agamemnon's betrothal to Helen's sister Clytemnestra, she initially sees it all as exciting and fun, not realising the consequences this is to have on her own life. Although Agamemnon and Menelaus are brothers there is a tension between them mainly stemming from Agamemnon being the oldest and the more dominant brother by far, and Menelaus not always being happy to be in Agamemnon's shadow. When they see Helen they both desire her and this fuels the rivalry between them.

Helen feels very uncomfortable about the attention she is getting from both men and in trying to escape their attention winds up being kidnapped by King Theseus (Stellan Skarsgard) who is the King of Athens and who declares that it is his intention to marry her. Although Helen fights against her imprisonment at first, both she and Theseus begin to become attached to each other, and for a short while she forgets about the vision of the young man in the pool who she always believed was the man she was to marry.

Pollux, Helen's brother tracks her down and not knowing the state of affairs between Helen and Theseus kills him in a bid to rescue Helen. Theseus with his last dying breath kills Pollux and Helen returns home to her father Tyndareus devasted. This is the last straw for Tyndareus who, having lost his son and heir, is now surrounded by the Kings of the Aegean who are drawn to Sparta to see what spoils they can get. Tyndareus basically throws Helen to the wolves and casts her off telling the visting Kings that whoever wants her can have her.

The Aegean Kings make an agreement to cast lots to see who will win Helen, as they all want her because of her great beauty. They also agree to make a pact that all the Kings will defend the winner's sole right to Helen and admire her only from afar. Menelaus doesn't like this idea but, when the lots are cast and he wins, he is triumphant.

Meanwhile Paris enters King Priam's games in order to win back his family's prize bull and ends up fighting against Hector his brother although he doesn't realise this at the time. Hector however is warned by Cassandra that this is his brother Alexandros and that he must kill him or Troy will be destroyed. Hector loses to Paris and Paris is recognised and welcomed back into the family by the King and Queen against the better judgement of Cassandra and Hector.

As his first diplomatic mission Paris is sent to Sparta to meet Menelaus and while there sees Helen properly for the first time. Helen, who is now married to Menelaus, feels trapped by her circumstances when she sees Paris, to such an extent that she later tries to kill herself but is stopped by Paris who tells her that he has come for her. When her sister Clytemnestra confronts Helen over her relationship with Paris, Clytemnestra lets slip that Menelaus and Agamemnon are planning to kill him once they get all the information they can from him about Troy. Helen warns Paris and they flee together.

Menelaus calls in the promise made earlier and the Aegean Kings rally behind him to go to Troy and reclaim Helen. However when these vast armies are stranded because there is no wind to fill the sails of the ships, Agamemnon is told that in order to get the gods to send wind he has to sacrifice his young daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Iphigenia is Agamemnon's beloved daughter but his love for power and glory is much greater and he arranges for Iphigenia to be taken from her mother and sacrifed as commanded. Clytemnestra is understandably upset by this to put it lightly and begins to plot her revenge against him.

Paris and Helen safely arrive in Troy with the Aegean armies now hot on their heels. When Menelaus makes a formal request to Priam to return his wife to him and is refused he and the Aegean armies mount a full attack on Troy with very little success

After 10 years have passed, the Aegean armies are still unsuccessful in breaching the Trojan defences, and Agamemnon has to come up with a plan to keep his men and allies from giving up. He proposes a fight between Menelaus and Paris with the winner getting Helen. The Aegean armies will go home no matter what. Priam agrees and the fight ensues however when the fight ends with neither party dead, but Paris seriously wounded, Agamemnon declares they will fight again the next day. Hector intervenes on his brother's behalf and states that he will take his place and, he fights Achilles with tragic consequences.

The next day the Aegean armies have all disappeared and only a giant wooden horse is left outside. The people of Troy find a man buried up to his neck in sand who tells them that he is a sacrifice and that the horse is an offering to the goddess Athena. The horse is taken into the city, unfortunately without being checked properly, along with the captive. During the night the unsuspecting Trojans are shocked to find that the Aegean's are suddenly inside the walls and ransacking their city. This time the Aegean army are successful and Agamemnon finally has what he has strived for. But how long can he keep it?

I found this film quite interesting if a bit long. And the characterisation , while good, because of some the actors chosen to play the parts, came across as a bit weak and I kept feeling that some of the roles could have been better cast.

Rufus Sewell was great as the ruthless king Agamemnon who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, not even when it means sacrificing his daughter. Although I have seen him playing good-guy characters I think he really plays the villain well and he is definitely effective as Agamemnon.

Sienna Guillory was ok as Helen but I couldn't really be convinced that she was supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world as I found her a bit insipid. Also through some parts of her acting I felt she seemed a bit awkward.

John Callis carried his part well as Menelaus the resentful younger brother wanting to best his older sibling but not being quite so ruthless. When I first saw this I hadn't really seen him in anything memorable, but now having seen him in Bridget Jones Diary and Battlestar Galactica I think he is definitely going places.

The performances of Daniel Lapaine as Hector and Matthew Marsden as Paris were again just ok but a bit bland. Although to be honest this could be because I felt these roles were done so much better by Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana in Troy.

The supporting cast were fine and carried off their roles satisfactorily, especially Katie Blake as Clytemnestra the long suffering wife of Agamemnon who has to live with the knowledge that her husband would rather be married to her sister than her.

It was also interesting to see the plight of women in these times. Although they may be in wealthy positions they have very little real power. Clytemnestra has to marry Agamemnon as it has been decided and agreed by Agamemnon and her father and there's nothing she can do about. Agamemnon goes ahead with it as it serves his purposes but you know he would be able to get himself out of it if he wanted to. And when Clytemnestra tries to warn Agamemnon off Helen he basically rebuffs her and tells her not to interfere and there's nothing she can do about it. When the Aegean kings cast lots to see who will get Helen she has no say in it, and although she takes her own fate in her hands when she escapes with Paris, from then on it is the men who decide what will happen.

On the whole I did enjoy watching this film although I didn't think it was brilliant, and I wouldn't say it was particularly memorable.

I would say if you are interested in the story of Troy then this may be an interesting version to watch but I would rent rather than purchase.

This is available on Amazon for £4.97 plus p&p or through Amazon Market Place for £2.75 plus P&P.
It's also available on Play.com for £5.99

The version I watched is the Widescreen 2 disc Special Edition Region 1 which is a 2 disc set
Disc 1 - 103 minutes
Disc 2 - 74 minutes

Cast
Agamemnon - Rufus Sewell
Helen - Sienna Guillory
Paris - Matthew Marsden
King Priam - John Rhys-Davies
Queen Hecuba- Maryam D'Abo
Cassandra - Emilia Fox
Menelaus - James Callis
Hector - Daniel Lapaine
Clytemnestra - Katie Blake
Theseus -Stellan Skarsgard

Written By - Ronni Kern
Directed By - John Kelnyt Harrison
Music Score Joel Goldsmith

Bonus Features
I couldn't actually get into it but the back of the disc states there is an exclusive 20 minute featurette called Helen of Troy - Making the Epic

Filmed at Meditaterrean Film Studios, Malta and various locations in Malta and Comino. 

...less