 Shortly after its release, Iranian bloggers and journalists were  outraged by the movie. With headlines like "Hollywood Declares War  on Iranians", they chastised the movie for its monstrous portrayal  of the Ancient Persians, ancestors of modern Iranians. A cultural  adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called it, "American  psychological warfare against Iran." Thus far, no mention has been  made of the opening or closing scenes, which reveal that the  Persians portrayal is a result of the story being told from a  Spartans point of view, rather than an omnipotent, contemporary  viewpoint.