Saw the movie Alexander this weekend. It is a fairly good film. This Oliver Stone directed film broadly covers the life of Alexander.
The story deals to some extent with the society, father, and mother of Alexander. It traces his life from childhood to death.
The story follows his grooming and conquest of the ancient Greek known world. The conquest of the Persians is the battle dealt with in most detail (some would argue still not enough detail).
A knowledge of ancient Greek history or the history of Alexander (he was Macedonian you know) would be helpful with this movie but is not necessary since a narrator is provided (one of the cohorts of Alexander on his world conquest) that provides good context so one won’t get lost in the tale.
Angelina Jolie does an excellent job as a bitter mother (all of the actors do a good job). The story suggests that the bitterness of Alexander’s mother at his father shaped her teaching and advising of Alexander as youth and adult.
Oliver Stone doesn’t shy away from the bisexuality of Alexander either (could be a box office killer in America - of course the historical nature of the film could do that also).
True, the bisexuality is sanitized. There are no explicitly overt (unless you think men kissing is explicit) sexual gay encounters like there is to some extent with Alexander’s Asian queen. However the bisexual nature of some ancient societies is not shied away from. For this fact alone the movie earns some points.
The fairly long story does loose some cohesion in the last third (the flashback to the killing of king Philip could have been placed in the normal sequence of the narrative with less disruption). The battle in the woods of India comes upon us too soon after the mutiny and subsequent execution of some of Alexander’s generals.
The battle in the woods in India seemed to be rushed (although it is exciting). Better pacing of this sequence was needed but it makes its point (these elephant mounted soldiers were more than a match for Alexander).
The story seems to be trying to make the point that Alexander believed in freeing people and uniting the cultures (like some sort of twentieth century multicultural view of the world). It showed that he respected the cultures he conquered to some extent (which I feel some of the historical record indicates but the respect for other cultures could have just been a way to deal with a managerial problem. How do you rule people from a different culture? Part of the answer is by respecting and letting them keep some of their traditions - the Persians new this)
I really got lost in Oliver Stone’s Alexander (and that’s a good thing) and, besides the slightly disjointed and rushed last third of the film I think it’s a good film. Alexander gets a B grade. It is worth two plus hours of your time in a movie theater with popcorn and a soda. I might even go see it again.