I’ve wanted to make this post for about 6 months now; anyway better now than never! Immediately after I had completed the Alexander tri-series tome by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, I was all charged up to watch the theatrical version of the story to see the whole lot of characters come alive – Alexander, Philip, Parmenio, Hephastion and Bucephalas.I promptly picked up the DVD of Alexander (2004) and drummed up all expectations of an out-of-the-world experience. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons for the whole thing turning out to be damp squib. Overall, the movie was largely forgettable having done total injustice to inarguably one of the world’s best military generals. Here go my review (read complaints):
The Cast:
While Colin Farrell had done justice to his role as Alexander, Brad Pitt would have just been brilliant. Considering his exploits on-screen in the movie ‘Troy’, he could have fitted in the role to the ‘T’. Brad Pitt has played the legendary Achilles, who also turns out to be Alexander’s real-life hero which is an added plus. Angelina Jolie as ‘Queen Olympia’ and Anthony Hopkins as ‘Old Ptolmey’ are other classic cases of wasted talent!
Lopsided focus:
It is just unpardonable that the movie tends to zip past Alexander’s achievements and tends to brood too much on his not-so-illustrious periods. The movie creates a strong thread of negativity: right from the blatant reference to homosexuality, to execution of Philotas & Parmenion, to showcasing his temperamental nature at the Hydaspes the focus throughout the movie is on Alexander’s misgivings. This kind of an approach is understandable if the movie had been titled say, ‘The fallacies of Alexander’ or ‘Alexander: The human side’. I’m sure such an approach wouldn’t have managed to create even a peripheral interest in the subject. But then, why mislead the viewers and set wrong expectations? People expect glorification of a legend and projection of the super-human traits of a leader who was considered a Demi-God by even his contemporaries.
Missing Battles & Events:
There are several historic events/battles in Alexander’s history that aren’t recreated or at best just made a passing reference to. This includes Alexander’s tutelage under Aristotle at Pella, Battle of Chaeronea, Undoing of the Gordian Knot, Battle of Granicus & Siege of Tyre. These omissions apart, the movie doesn’t bring out Alexander’s out-of-the-box-thinking, the ingenious use of Phalanx as a fighting unit, unconventional military tactics and his strategies to unify the conquered lands. The only saving grace of the movie is the vivid portrayal of the crucial Battle of Gaugamela.
Here’s hoping that some movie studio would come forward to truly recreate the magic and aura surrounding Alexander’s life, yet again!
