Eyes closed against the Macedonian sun

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2005)

Oliver Stone has risen admirably to the challenge of making a film about one of ancient history's most dazzling figures. Making a successful film about an historical figure is always difficult as few lives follow plots that make good box-office. One can either 'rewrite history' in order to make the storyline follow that which audiences will find satisfactory (which can still be controversial, if you think of 'A Beautiful Mind') or, as Oliver Stone has done with 'Alexander', take the more accurate course with some thoughtful editing to keep the story within a reasonable running time.
Unlike the Biblical epics where most people in the audience have some background knowledge of what to expect, the life of Alexander is better known to academics than to the man in the street. Alexander may have lived and died more than 2 300 years ago, but his life was remarkably well documented and there are few serious anachronisms or factual errors in this film, only compromises. Some of the dialogue is verbatim translation of what was transcribed by Ptolemy and Arrian. For anyone who has not had the benefit of a classical education, this is a film where it pays to do some homework before hand, even if it is only a copy of Mary Renault's 'The Nature of Alexander' from the local library.
Don't be put off by the reviewers - a large number reveal exceptional ignorance and even more reveal a fear to express an opinion of their own.
There have been adverse comments about Colin Farrell's Irish accent. Would it have been more appropriate if he spoke with an American one? Or a camp Greek one? The Macedonians spoke a different language to the Hellenes and the Irish accent is as appropriate an equivalent as an English one would be for the Hellenes. As for his mother, Olympias, she was a Slav and her Slavic accent is appropriate. An advantage of choosing an actor like Farrell to play 'Alexander' is that his face is relatively unknown and images of him in other roles do not spring to mind to blur the picture.
Go and see this film with an open mind. Don't compare it to 'Gladiator' which is a fictitious tale in an historic time or 'Troy' which is an Homeric epic and has little fact to back it up apart from Schlieman's excavations. And do not judge Alexander's actions more than two thousand years ago against the morals and manners of today.