TheMovieStory

Troy is a movie released on May 14, 2004 concerning the Trojan War. It is loosely based on Homer’s Iliad, but includes material from Virgil’s Aeneid and other sources, and sometimes diverges from myth. The film has the following cast of actors prominent at the time of its release: Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, Peter O’Toole as Priam, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, and Tyler Mane as Ajax. Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.

Plot

Agamemnon of Mycenae and his army are in Thessaly, Greece, looking to expand his military might and empire. His army prepares to engage in combat against a host of soldiers under the Thessalonian king, Triopas. Rather than suffer great losses, Triopas agrees to Agamemnon’s proposal to settle the matter in the traditional way - through a decisive match between the heroes of the opposing armies. Achilles, summoned by Agamemnon, arrives, after being woken by a messenger boy, and kills the greatest and most accomplished warrior of Thessaly, Boagrius. Accepting defeat, Triopas presents Achilles with a scepter as a token for his king, which Achilles refuses, saying “He’s not my king.”

In Sparta, Prince Hector and his young brother Paris negotiate an end to the war between the outlying kingdom of Troy and Sparta. On the last day of a week long peace festival, Paris smuggles his love Helen back to Troy with him. Menelaus, Helen’s husband, vows revenge on Paris. Meanwhile, Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, who had for years harbored plans for conquering Troy, decides to use his brother’s situation as an excuse to invade. He is advised by his general, Nestor, to call upon Achilles to fight for the Greeks in order to ensure they can rally enough troops to the cause, knowing that with Troy under his control, Agamemnon would have complete control over the Aegean.

When they arrive in Troy, Hector and Paris, along with Helen, are warmly welcomed and received by their father, King Priam, who says nothing of his younger son’s betrayal. Shortly afterwards, Hector urges their father to put Helen on a ship back to Sparta, in order to avoid a colossal war between Troy and Agamemnon, who now controls all of Greece. Priam refuses, choosing to put his faith in his high priests and their interpretation of how Apollo would react, as well as his conviction that Paris is truly in love with Helen.

Agamemnon and the Greeks amass the largest naval force ever known to man - 1000 ships each containing 50 men - and set sail for Troy. Agamemnon sends Odysseus to convince Achilles to join, but he refuses as he utterly despises Agamemnon and only fights for personal glory, not the power of others. Odysseus hints that the warriors who would fight in this war shall receive immortality in history, but he still refuses. Later, Thetis, Achilles’ mother, tells Achilles of the prophecy she had learned of even before he was born, which foretold that if Achilles does not go to the war, he will find peace, love and a family of his own, but he will eventually be forgotten as time passed. But if he chooses to go to Troy, his name would become immortal, at the cost of his life. Achilles, unable to resist such fame and glory, heads for Troy.

The Trojan Horse prop from the film, preserved on the seafront at Çanakkale, Turkey

The Greeks land at Troy and are able to take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons are able to defeat many Trojans but also desecrate the Trojan temple of Apollo and kill the unarmed priests that reside there. Briseis, a member of the Trojan royal family who has chosen to dedicate her life to service to the gods, is captured and taken as a prize by Achilles. However, he treats her with kindness, which makes her initially leery. In the course of the battle, Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight, and Hector is allowed to leave.

After the battle, Achilles is annoyed that, though he and his Myrmidons spearheaded the battle, the other kings who serve Agamemnon pay him tribute in honor of Agamemnon’s great victory. Offended by Achilles’ disrespectful and disobedient attitude, Agamemnon takes Briseis from him. Only Briseis’ contemptuous pleas stop Achilles from slaughtering Agamemnon and his men, and Agamemnon taunts him for listening to a mere slave girl. Achilles leaves in a rage, but promises Agamemnon he will see him dead before his own life ends.

When the Greek army marches upon Troy, Achilles refuses to fight or allow the Myrmidons to fight until Agamemnon regrets belittling him. Instead, Achilles and his Myrmidons watch the events from a distance, Achilles pacing back and forth in anger at Agamemnon’s mistakes. With the Trojan army beneath the walls of Troy and the Greek army surrounding it, Paris, feeling guilt for having brought the threat of war upon Troy, challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees, knowing he is the better warrior, but Agamemnon decides he will attack afterwards anyway. Paris, severely outmatched, is easily defeated. Terrified of dying, he crawls back to Hector’s feet. Menelaus approaches and moves to finish Paris, but Hector steps in to protect his brother and kills Menelaus. A shocked and distraught Agamemnon orders his army to charge the Trojans.

During the battle, Ajax leads the fight and is unstoppable while he causes mayhem with a great hammer of war. Hector, recognizing the threat, faces Ajax and they fight. At first Ajax almost kills Hector, who can only shelter behind his shield as it is smashed to pieces. Hector only just manages to overpower and kill Ajax despite being almost throttled to death by him. The increasingly energized Trojans press their attack against the uncoordinated Greeks. The Greeks move too close to the walls and Trojan archers rain arrows down on them, killing Greek soldiers by the hundreds. Without Ajax or Achilles and his Myrmidons, and with the Trojan archers upon the walls of Troy free to shower arrows upon the Greeks, the battle quickly turns against the Greeks. With command of the battle lost, Agamemnon grudgingly bows to Odysseus’s pleas to withdraw, and the Greeks retreat to the beach.

Briseis is given to some men by the king after their poor performance in battle as a “morale booster”. Before she is branded and raped, Achilles arrives in the nick of time to save her, attacking her assailants and carrying her back to his tent. Later that night, as Achilles sleeps, Briseis contemplates killing him and kneels beside him to press a knife to his throat. He wakes but only challenges her to do it and says that dying now isn’t so different than dying fifty years from now, causing her to hesitate at his calmness in the face of death. The next evening, the two lie in bed and Achilles tells her he is sailing in the morning, having been convinced that perhaps the life of an infamous warrior is not all for him. She is slightly skeptical and asks him if he could really leave it all behind, inducing him to ask if she could bring herself to leave Troy.

A debate takes place within the Trojan palace. The priests say that the gods are on their side and they should attack the Greeks while they are weak. Hector points out that the Myrmidons did not fight and that the Greeks are dispirited. If they attack, it might be the thing to roust and unify the Greeks. He argues for leaving them alone and perhaps they will leave on their own accord. Priam disregards this and goes with the assurances of his priests, and a reluctant Hector leads them.

The Trojans attack the Greek camp at dawn. As the Greeks appear to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles’ appears and the Myrmidons join the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector, until his throat is cut: this energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks, until Hector pulls Achilles’ helmet off and finds it is Patroclus, Achilles’ cousin. Grieved at having slain a boy so young, Hector gives him a killing blow out of mercy. Odysseus informs Hector of the boy’s identity and they agree to cease hostilities for the day. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is informed by the Myrmidons of the incident; they had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles. Consumed by grief and rage, Achilles beats Eudorus and walks toward the beach. A distraught Achilles leads the ceremony, complete with funeral pyre, while a grinning Agamemnon tells Odysseus “That boy just saved this war.”

The next day, Achilles approaches the gates of Troy and demands Hector come out and face him. Hector stops the city’s archers from opening fire and goes down to face Achilles. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rites by the winner. Achilles denies him, saying that “There are no pacts between lions and men”. The two fight ‘in a God-like manner’, bravely and arduously, Hector proving almost equal to Achilles, but ultimately Achilles wins. He then ties Hector’s body to the back of his chariot and drags it along the dirt. That night, King Priam, aided by the dark, goes to the Greek army’s camp to get Hector’s body back. After an emotional and mortifying talk given to him by Priam, Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector’s slain body. He lets Priam take Hector’s body back, promising him that no Greek will attack them on the way back. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well. He assures Priam that the Greeks will honor Prince Hector’s death, and that no Greek will attack Troy for 12 days. This temporary ceasefire angers Agamemnon who sees it as golden opportunity to attack Troy while they are leaderless.

During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector’s death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus. The Greeks leave the horse just outside the city gates, then withdraw to the beach hiding in the remains of their camp in the ships. Paris warns Priam about the horse and says they should burn it to the ground, but Priam neglects his warning, blinded by the priests’ talk of the horse being a “peace offering by the Greeks” in order to appease the Sun-God Apollo for the desecration of his temple by Achilles earlier. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A Trojan scout sees the Greeks still at the bay but gets killed by an archer. The Trojans celebrate their victory and the whole of Troy is in drunken stupor when several Greeks, hidden inside the horse, launch a surprise attack and open the gates of Troy to allow the Greek army inside the city walls. Paris refuses to leave and hands the sword of Troy to Aeneas, quoting his father by telling Aeneas that “So long the sword of Troy remains in the hands of a Trojan, our people have a future”. Priam yells to the Greeks who break statues in the temple and says “Have you no honor?” but before he can act he is killed by Agamemnon.

Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved from being stabbed to death by Agamemnon’s guards when Achilles reaches her. Paris manages to find Achilles and shoots an arrow that goes straight through Achilles’ heel. Crippled, he is then hit in the chest by several more arrows, but is able to remove them, though the wounds are fatal. Achilles tells Briseis, “You gave me peace in a lifetime of war,” and urges her to leave the city with Paris. After watching them leave, he collapses with one arrow remaining in his heel, just as the Greek soldiers find him.

After a last disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier. They perform the funeral rituals for him the next morning. Odysseus delivers the final words, “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. Let them say that I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles….”

Awards

2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

• Won - Top Box Office Film — James Horner

2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)

• Nominated - Best Achievement in Costume Design — Bob Ringwood

2005 Japanese Academy Prize

• Nominated - Best Foreign Film

2005 MTV Movie Awards

• Nominated - Best Fight — Brad Pitt, Eric Bana
• Nominated - Best Male Performance — Brad Pitt

2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)

• Nominated - Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features — Wylie Stateman, Martin Cantwell, James Boyle, Harry Barnes, Paul Conway, Alex Joseph, Matthew Grime, Steve Schwalbe, Howard Halsall, Sue Lenny, Simon Price, Nigel Stone

2005 Teen Choice Awards

• Won - Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure — Brad Pitt
• Nominated - Choice Breakout Movie Star - Male — Garrett Hedlund
• Nominated - Choice Movie - Drama/Action Adventure
• Nominated - Choice Movie Fight/Action Sequence

Cast