How Battle of Troy acts out in referendum

By Dominic Odipo

You can easily catch the film at your local DVD outlet. Its name is Troy, starring Brad Pitt as the legendary Greek warrior Achilles. The story line is at once very simple and very complicated. The epic battle scenes, shot off the Gulf of Mexico will rivet the attention of both old and the young.

And the beautifully interwoven messages of love, passion, blood, tears and violent death will enthrall women, men, girls and boys of whatever social, political or religious persuasion.

There are, however, five main political messages flowing through and underneath this epic screenplay, which ought to be of particular interest to this country, especially as we prepare for the constitutional referendum at the beginning of next month.

The story line of Troy runs somewhat like this: A high-powered delegation from the Trojan royal household visits the residence of one of the ancient Greek kings. While there, Paris, the younger of the Trojan princes, falls in love with Hellen, the wife of the Greek king.

Unknown to his elder brother, and of course to the king, Paris smuggles Hellen onto the ship taking the princes back to Troy. When the king discovers that his wife has eloped with the young Trojan prince, his fury explodes in inverse proportion to what he perceives to be his honour as a man and a king. He quickly seeks and gets the support of his brother, the king of another Greek city-state, and, together, they launch a joint military assault on Troy, which, for a thousand years, has never been conquered by a foreign army.

Its beaches have never been taken in battle and its legendary walls have never been breached or scaled by an enemy force.

Because this is expected to be the greatest battle of the age, the Greek kings enlist the support and active participation of Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age. Achilles sails with the Greek armies but, when they arrive on the Trojan beach, he fights for himself, and the future glory of his name, not for the Greek kings.

In the heat of the battle for the Trojan fortress, he desecrates the statue of Apollo, the Trojan god, and is finally killed by Paris after he carelessly lets down his guard while seeking to protect the woman he loves — his Achilles Heel.

There are five main political messages that flow underneath and alongside this story line, of particular interest to us today. The first of these is very clear. Even though the two Greek brother kings seal a blood pact to jointly invade and destroy Troy, each is going to war for a reason very different from that of the other.

The first king is going to war to reclaim his wife and his honour while the second is going to war simply to acquire more power and glory as well as the legendary riches believed to be stashed behind Trojan walls. That the young Trojan prince has stolen his brother’s wife is of no consequence to him.

The second message is that Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age, is not going to war for any of the reasons that are driving the two Greek kings to destroy Troy. He is fighting for his own reasons, which include the writing of his name in the annals of posterity, avenging the death of his cousin and protecting the Trojan woman he has fallen in love with.

Legendary fighter

The third message is that, even though it becomes obvious to the more realistic Trojans, including Prince Hector, commander of the Trojan armies, that Troy cannot withstand the combined onslaught of the two Greek armies and the legendary fighting prowess of Achilles, the Trojan king still believes that his side will win against all these odds.

He has been convinced by his priests, and without any rational basis, that Apollo, their main god, is on their side.

The fourth message is just how easy it can be for supposedly intelligent people in high places to fall prey to a really big lie. When the Greeks present their Trojan horse at the gates of Troy, the king and his advisors do not smell the extreme danger staring them in the face. They believe, incredibly, that this large, strange horse-like structure is just a magnanimous and magnificent present from their enemies.

Split second

It is only after the horse has been safely delivered inside their impenetrable walls, and everyone has gone to sleep, that the Trojans realise what a deadly mistake they have made.

The final message is passed to us as the film ends by none other than Achilles himself. The greatest warrior of the age, whom no other man could kill in open combat, is brought down by the love of a woman.

In that split second after he finally finds her within the walls, his guard drops and Paris pumps four arrows into his chest. Peruse the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ referendum campaigns and you will see all these Greek and Trojan messages in there.

Look even more closely and you will see how these campaigns will end.

The writer is a lecturer and consultant in Nairobi.

dominicodipo@yahoo.co.uk