Was the 300 movie as dreadful as ancient Persia?

 

Of course not, never. They weren't just depicted as ordinary humans in that movie; they were virtually orcs. (Yes, actual people with unusual appearances can exist, be valid, etc.—but take note that in the film, the protagonists were all conventionally gorgeous; only the baddies had these appearances. This wasn't representation; it was coding.)

The Persians had no swords affixed to bloodied stumps for arms and were neither cave trolls nor orcs. People were there.

Here is how one of the "Immortal" guards was portrayed in 300:

A mosaic of the actual Immortal guards is seen below:

It is preferable to consider the film 300 to be doubly fake. First of all, it's simply a film. Second, it is depicted in the film as the propagandised version of the tale the Spartans tell one another. Naturally, they presented themselves as heroically handsome and the Persians as hideous monsters.