Helen of Troy (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews

Worth seeing....though how much is history and how much is fiction?

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 25 May 2012]

Bettany Hughes has made some marvelous documentaries over the last decade or so. I adored her lengthy films on Athens as well as Sparta and she has a nice way of bringing history to life. Here with "Helen of Troy", the film is a bit different, as this is not necessarily history but is a blend of history and mythology. No one knows how much of the story of Helen and the Trojan War is true and how much is simply fiction or bad history. Much of the problem is that Homer's account of the war was written centuries after the fact and much of the problem is that Homer was not attempting to be a historian but to tell a great story. So, talk about the gods, manly deeds and the sort are clearly artistic license. How much license, who knows?! While I am only a retired history teacher, I doubt most of Homer's account. Could Helen have been THAT beautiful and did she even exist? Was there a Trojan horse? Were Hector, Achilles and the like real folks--even if their exploits were clearly exaggerated? All these plus MANY more questions make this film by Hughes interesting but also quite problematic. The show is based upon many, many, many guesses and suppositions and what we truly know about the war is very, very limited. So you'll hear a lot of comments like 'could have' and 'might'. Interesting, perhaps, but not exactly a science. Still, given the limitations of the story and historical evidence, it's decent--if a bit less watchable than Hughes' other shows.

Will the real Helen of Troy please stand up?

[Bernie4444 · 10/10 · 28 April 2024]

This is an excellent PBS documentary Presented by British historian Bettany Hughes. Bettany is known for presenting excellent documentaries. After an introduction to Homer, we get to travel to Helen's world through locations (Mycenae, Sparta, Aegean, and Troy) than we travel up the Hellespont to Istanbul and back in time (Late Bronze Age, 1300 B. C).

We are treated to many aspects of Helen's culture from clothing to makeup to jewelry and the environment in which her contemporary women would thrive.

I saw the 2-hour show on PBS and watched the DVD. The DVD fits the full screen of the newer TVs and even though it is not Blu-ray is sharp and colorful. The Audio is excellent.