Immortals

The Immortals is based loosely on Greek mythology and features an Athena who wields weapons and joins the fight with her brothers. How does the Immortals portray female warriors and their ability to hold their own against danger?

This movie came out in 2011 and was directed by Tarsem Singh.

First, the gist of the story. We have a hero, Theseus, who is a slave. He's trained by a disguised Zeus to be a great warrior. When Theseus' mom is slain, Theseus ends up running into a sexy Oracle, finding an enchanted bow, promptly losing it again, and then doing little as the evil King takes over the lands. So he's not exactly a "hero", more of a sexy Forrest Gump.

But what's encouraging is that Athena, daughter of Zeus, is actually treated fairly well here. In many Gods-and-Goddesses movies you get Athena and Aphrodite being shown simply as brainless bimbos. Here, there is no Aphrodite. Zeus is shown with four children - Hermes, Ares, Posiden, and Athena. Athena was always supposed to be a military goddess, about strategy and courage. So it's quite refreshing to see her that way.

When Zeus has to come down to earth to take on the Titans, he brings all four kids with him, equally garbed. Zeus is the one in the back; Athena is in the front right.



So not only is Athena right there with her brothers, but she is up and front. And she launches into battle. She is skilled, quick, and able to hold her own. Something else I vastly appreciate - she wasn't tossed into a chain metal bikini just because she's female. She's wearing pretty much the same armor that her brothers are wearing. She is treated to be just as capable.



Now, that's not to say that everything is exactly fair. When it looks like they might lose, Athena is already down and Poseiden is fighting for his life. Father Zeus takes down the mountain - and then he draws up ATHENA in his arms, ignoring his other sons. He takes Athena up to the skies with him. So there his other sons are, needing help, but he only really cares about his daughter. That does seem a bit odd.

The other mention of female warriors here involves the Oracle. The sexy, virgin oracle is always accompanied by three equally sexy woman so that an outsider doesn't know who exactly the oracle is. When the four women are captured, they decide they have to get away from their guards. So we are first seen quick images of each woman drawing a hidden blade from somewhere on her body.



Then there's an incredibly quick scene of those four women taking out the trained guards. Later, the King berates his guards for being taken down by "women" - but it's clear these women are talented fighters. It did bother me a bit that in a time period of Athena that someone would make a snide comment about "oh how could a WOMAN beat you". A sharp blade is just as deadly in the hand of a woman as a man. It cuts and kills both in the hands of a tall, muscular person and a small, lithe person.

Finally, I already admit that the storyline is far from historically accurate. Still, I do have to comment that Athena seems to be wielding a pair of kama, which is an oriental weapon. I can't find any weapon like that in Greece - and Athena was known for using a spear. Why didn't they have her use a spear, which would have made much more sense for her?

Still, in the end I give them credit for having two separate situations where women are treated as capable and strong, and they hold their own in situations of danger.

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