An Oliver Stone movie is out, the critics pick up the hatchets and start sharpening them intending nothing less than butchering the movie and its maker, well, what’s new, JFK, The Doors, Born on…. all had their share of critical blood shed.
The most difficult part about making a movie about historical figures is the need for a balance between their achievements in their respective fields and their private lives. This movie stands out by providing glimpses of both without necessarily dwelling on one or the other in profound detail. This can be its strength or weakness. I consider this the fortitude of this movie and the credit must definitely go to the director.
I wonder why there was such a furor about this movie, especially the sexual tendencies of the great man, this movie is not about that.
This 3 hour long movie is a condensation of the life of probably the greatest general and conquerer born. This is a movie about an young man of 16 starting out and almost conquering the entire known world, leading his troops from the mountains of northern Greece all the way to the borderlands of India, subduing every opponent in his path, from the Greek city states to the kingdoms of North Africa, Asia Minor and Persia, his ruthlessness in battle, his devotion to his friends and companions, and the love which he shared almost exclusively with his male peers from earliest childhood on, his excesses, his relationship with his parents Philip and Olympias, his triumphs, his defeats……..
The question at the end of the movie is whether the director did justice to the vision of a man who had thousands of faces, thousands of episodes, was so many different characters without loosing the greatness of being himself. This I feel is virtually an impossible task to accomplish, but Stone has tried hard to meet and accomplished to an extent.
It is very easy for a director to slip into branches of the individuals life, show episodes relating to only a part of the nature of the individual, for example – the director could have easily made it only a movie showing the military expeditions of Alexander or maybe just his private life which easily could independently cover more than 3 hours of reel time each. Whether the director chose to do a more detailed report of neither due to the time and cost constraints or was he playing safe is debatable.
The movie itself is visually beautiful, very well picturised and stylish, especially the final scenes (supposedly in India) and the battle of Persia. The only disappointment I felt after watching this movie, was that the director has chosen a relatively safe path skipping, in the process, various controversial yet important events in Alexander’s life like his relationship with the eunuch Bagoas, his encounter with the mighty Porus, the great battle between them, the mutual respect and the eventual defeat of Porus.
Colin Farrell has done an average job, Angelina Jolie as Olympias looks beautiful (surprisingly maintains the same look all of Alexander’s 33 years till his death) but she never has been great in the acting department and does nothing in this movie to change that view, Anthony Hopkins has a bit role and still manages screen presence, Val Kilmer has done his job well.
Definitely worth the money, though not as hard hitting and memorable as JFK and not Oliver Stone’s best but still a must watch (on big screen) for his fans.