Alexander. The Movie.

[Socrates]

Been weeks since I saw it and wanted to write about it...

Alexander the movie isn't good. In my opinion. It isn't terrible, but not really interesting. Others talked about it quite well already, so let's be quick...

The historical part is REALLY neglected. There are a few parts during the childhood, and at the moment Alex decides to leave Greece, he's facing Darius in the plain of Gaugameles. No battle of Issos, no siege of Tyr, no glorious and peaceful entry into Egypt nor foundation of Alexandria... Nah, the only important thing to Stone's eyes is to show us a great battle against Darius, and then talk about gays all the time. The problem is that Darius is depicted as a feeble king (which he was), but also as the meanie who must be captured (that should remind us of the current situation in the Middle East ). Once Darius is defeated, he only appears dead like a fallen soldier in the lost mountains of whatever satrapy... And that's it of the struggle against the Persian Empire.

From then on, Stone can freely entertain us with ridiculous pseudo-gay stories, or should I say tales. I was disappointed by Alex's wife, yes, the barbarian one ; OK, she can give milk to an entire army, but is she pretty ? Roxane was a Persian princess, and so she isn't well represented in the movie. Anyway, she's only there as Olympias's substitute. The movie essentially ends in India, where a battle occurs in what could have been a French wood (credits to my friend for that one ! ), even if the struggle between Bucephalus and the elephant looks nice. The long part in red filter is boring BTW...

The characters :
- Alex : Not that bad, I don't really have an opinion on him.
- Olympias : Nice performance by Angelina Jolie, though she's too young to be the mother. Was she that of a sorceress ? And of a protective mother ? Not sure.
- Philip : What a blast ! A real barbarian ? I'd like experts to tell me about it. So, the King of Macedonia, a nation that was progressively hellenized, was a pure barbarian, drinking all the time, beating his wife, etc... I just don't want to believe it. And wasn't he Alex's real father ? I'm a bit lost here.

Music : Boring for the most part. Some stuff is OK, but the rest is just some terrible Hollywood music. Blah.

Anachronisms ? : The tale is told by Ptolemy in Alexandria a few decades later. We can see the Great Lighthouse in the background. I'm not sure of it, is it the Lighthouse or the Library/Museum or both, but I think it wasn't completed when Ptolemy died.

Interpretations of blurry stuff : Stone apparently has his idea of many things that aren't well known by experts. The problem is, he hesitates so much during the entire movie, he never goes into excess in some themes, and goes really far in others, that I wonder about his real opinions. Don't, really don't take all of this for facts.

Conclusion : At the end we see the old Ptolemy who tells us that Alex wasn't loved by many, but because of something (can't remember why), he'll be remembered as "the Great". I wonder where the movie showed us that. The movie could have been about whatever leader in history, or even something else. About a guy who has this father and that mother, and who experiences a gay-ish life in high spheres. Nowhere does the movie tell us about why he is maybe the greatest conqueror of all times. Hence the appropriate name for this movie : just Alexander.