Helen Of Troy: USA Network Miniseries Event Review

Title: Helen Of Troy

Genre: Epic Classic Drama Tragedy

Stars: Sienna Guillory, Matthew Marsden, Rufus Sewell, James Callis, Stellan Skarsgard, Maryam d’Abo, Emilia Fox, John Rhys-Davies, Daniel Lapaine, and Joe Montana

Writer: Ronni Kern

Based On “The Iliad” By: Homer

Director: John Kent Harrison

Executive Producer: Adam Shapiro

Running Time: 180 minutes without commercials

Media: USA Original Television Miniseries Event (NTSC VHS Screener)

Part One Premiere: Sunday, April 20, 2003, at 8pm (ET/PT)

Part Two Premiere: Monday, April 21, 2003, at 8pm (ET/PT)

Network: USA Network Television (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)

TV Rating: Not Available At The Time Of Review

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Executive Producer Adam Shapiro, who was the USA Network’s Senior Vice President of Long Form Programming and was among the talent that bought the Sci-Fi Channel’s acclaimed miniseries “Frank Herbert’s Dune” and the hit USA Miniseries “Attila” to the small screen now brings an epic vision of primal desire, unmatched rage, unquenchable passion, and bloodlust in the face of one of the greatest classic stories ever written. “Helen Of Troy” takes the viewer back to ancient Greece and does not pull any punches in the brutal depiction of the ten-year war between Greece and Troy. There is no way anyone can ever bring Homer’s “The Iliad” to even the small screen and capture the poetic imagery in a four hour miniseries and personally I think no one should since reading the book is an experience so sublime to the imagination that making a dramatization would rob the joy of seeing it in one’s own mind’s eye. In fact the credits do not mention that this is adapted from Homer’s “The Iliad” at all, but I have placed it here because I cannot imagine any dramatization without referencing the source material from where it came or was obviously inspired.

The miniseries stars Rufus Sewell as “Agamemnon,” the ruthless King Of Mycenae who uses Helen’s escape to fuel his ambition of sacking Troy and crowning himself King of the Aegean. Matthew Marsden stars has “Paris” the Prince of Troy whose return to his home with Helen will ultimately bring about the doom of an empire, though the irony of course is that from the ashes of a destroyed Troy, the survivors who escaped would one day conquer Greece as the Roman Empire as referenced in the writings of Virgil. Sienna Guillory is “Helen” and her beauty lights up the screen and is sure to launch more than one thousand ships once this miniseries airs on USA.

Other cast members include John Rhys-Davies as “Priam” King of Troy and Maryam d’Abo as his wife “Hecuba.” James Callis and Stellan Skarsgard star as “Menelaus” King of Sparta and “Theseus” King of Athens respectively. Daniel Lapaine stars as “Hector” Prince of Troy while Emilia Fox stars as “Cassandra” Princess of Troy, and both contribute to the sense of great tragedy that yields the humanity in this brutal depiction of humanity’s most primal behaviors and motives that include wanton lust, sadistic brutality, exploitation and yet is also underpinned with the themes of love and what drives people to war. The themes of fate and history also enhance the scale of the production. Joe Montana is a standout as “Achilles” and has some of the most memorable dialogue in the miniseries. Rufus Sewell as magnificent as “Agamemnon” and as a whole the casting for this miniseries is truly above average.

What I liked the most about “Helen Of Troy” was the attention to detail and the mixing of the metaphysical with the stark reality of the material world. The scenes where the Trojans take in the great horse is awe inspiring and while we do see Greek Gods in the miniseries it is done in a more naturalistic manner that still retains mystic qualities. We get the sense that destiny has been set and the Gods have ordained what is to transpire and yet we also get the sense that the fate is determined by the choices the characters made so though it may be unlikely, one has to wonder could things have turned out differently had someone done something different? The more I think about the miniseries in retrospect the more I can spot so many metaphors for the human condition like the contrast of the act of making love embodied in the union between Paris and Helen and their acceptance within the walls of Troy to the deception of the Trojan horse and Helen’s subsequent rape by Agamemnon in public while the Greeks mercilessly kill much of the people of Troy and enslave most of the few remaining survivors. The act of war is contrast to the act of sex more plainly in the miniseries’ subtext than I have ever seen in a television miniseries before. The widening of the opening of the walls of Troy to bring in the horse containing the Greeks who will bring about her doom is quite frankly like a vagina accepting a penis inside without regard for the possible diseases that could be contained in the sperm so in short I found the scene to be metaphor for unprotected sex. Perhaps it is no coincidence then that the most well known brand of condom is “Trojans.”

The miniseries does contain scenes of visceral bloodshed and nudity, but none of it is presented in a distasteful manner and I’m glad that the filmmakers did not shy away from showing what they did because it is an important part of the story. Another element I really liked was the production and costume design. This looks like how I imagine Greece appearing at that age and thankfully none of it looks like an episode of “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” which is so refreshing because I could never buy the locales and costuming as being remotely authentic even though the obvious differences between an epic like this and a series like that is like comparing night and day. The only aspect that I think should have been brought out is an element I remember from “The Iliad.” Helen is enthralled over the fact of these two nations fighting over her and this I think gratifies her own ego when she witnesses the carnage below the walls of Troy, but that aspect of her personality is never fully developed in the miniseries.

Overall, in case you have not already guessed it, I truly loved this USA miniseries event, I hope Universal Home Entertainment won’t waste anytime releasing it to DVD, and I think this is the best USA original miniseries produced yet. A worthy successor to their previous epic miniseries “Attila.” “Helen Of Troy” will premiere on the USA Network on Sunday, April 20, 2003, at 8pm (ET/PT) with the conclusion premiering on Monday, April 21, 2003, at 8pm (ET/PT). Do not offend the network gods by missing it!

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