Adventurer/Conqueror and open gay man

Rating: 8/10 (1 July 2012)

Being a fan of the classical school of acting I have a particular fondness for the 1956 Alexander The Great that starred Richard Burton. He was a guy born to play roles like that, just like Charlton Heston. Still Oliver Stone's Alexander has much to recommend it, especially with them finally dealing with the fact the man was gay in a society that sexual orientation didn't matter. In 1956 they could only be most subtle on that issue and Burton's Alexander contained not a trace.
The love of his life was a childhood friend named Hephastrion and the relationship between Colin Farrell and Jared Leto as Alexander and Hephastrion is quite clear. But one of the duties of a monarch is to provide for orderly succession in any culture. When Farrell marries Rosario Dawson the Babylonian princess it is to provide heirs for a world he's uniting.
Which brings me to his relationship with his father Philip of Macedon played here by Val Kilmer. One thing you can't have is whispers about paternity even if Zeus is the biological father which Queen Olympias keeps saying about her son. Angelina Jolie is Olympias and she's got a most tempestuous relationship with Kilmer. A few hints in that direction lead him to silencing those rumors and in turn a court party centered around Prince Alexander takes action to insure his successor.
Like so many adventurer/conquerors Alexander is convinced of the superiority of the Greek way of life. Still even after conquest he does leave local customs intact if for no other reason is that you can't keep leaving occupying forces lest you diminish your conquering army. A unique idea for its day, practiced most recently by General Douglas MacArthur when he was running Japan and quite well.
Oliver Stone offers some new and fresh insights to Alexander where we finally now talk about his sexual orientation. For those who protested this film, I say Alexander is here and queer.