Reviews of '300'

I was reading the reviews today in the NY Times and Wash Post about '300'. What so completely astounds me is that Sparta is being depicted as the 'model of freedom' . Sure... if a command system ruled by a single person with harsh discipline and mandatory long service in the army is a model of freedom.

But then, I learned about Athens/Sparta through the prism of the cold war. Maybe that's clouding my opinion.