Alexander as one of us.

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2005)

(I am here talking about the movie, not history.)
In Babylon, Hephaestion asked Alexander:"Sometimes I wondered if you are just running away from your mother?"
I find this one of the many interesting issues this movie has to offer us.
In the movie, Alexander was far-most a dreamer chaser. He was in a dream nobody can understand. (I am not sure even Hephaestion did.) Great or not, it is left for the history and time to judge or mis-judge.
Alexander's family didn't offer him a lot of comforts. His father was not particularly loving and his mother ever so manipulative and demanding. So I understand very well that the life of reality for Alexander at home had little meaning, so he set out to chase his dreams. Alexander loved his father greatly and so did he love his mother. But this puts him into such great conflict that finally, when his father was murdered and his mother seemingly involved in the crime, he collapsed. So he left, for his conquest of the known world and shut himself into his own dream. What is this dream: to Conquer the world, to bring freedom to people, or just to be away as far as he could from home. We do not and can not understand his dream because we are not him. But in the movie, it is strongly portrayed that he was a man devoted to his dream and he was a lonely man. A sad lonely man that nobody understood. Hephaestion was probably catching a bit understanding of Alexander's dream but by far sharing it. Yet Hephaestion was by far more understanding than all the rest. So it is normal for Alexander to feel for Hephaestion. Imagine ourselves, when we are lonely and weary, what will we feel for the friend who comes to us and comforts us. It is love, it is friendship and they are the same thing. (Sorry, no sex involved here and that's why again it shows how great Mr. Stone did the job by showing the strong bond in between Alexander and Hephaestion, but emphasizing no sex involved, just purity.) Alexander did feel for his wife as well, but was it a mere reflection of his mother, we will never know. Yet again, this possibility is implied in the movie. Great job. Who doesn't have a little dream of certain kind within the deepest heart of each and every of us. But Alexander was great because he can bring his dream chasing to such an extreme. No matter how much land he conquered, no matter how many people he killed, he did it at no cost to chase his dream.
That's what I think, in a deep level, Mr. Stone wants to imply in his movie. The movie is not Alexander the Great (or the Wars of Alexander), but Alexander, as a person, but a unique person. He was strong and was weak, he was divine and he made mistakes. And that's why I like the movie. The movie left a lot of thoughts after watching, on a lot of levels and aspects. In exploration of the world, Alexander was exploring himself. In chasing the phantom of perfection in his way, Alexander conquered the world and the history.
I am very grateful that Mr. Stone offered us a different angle to view a well celebrated historical Hero (or not, up to you). An angle that was not expected and anticipated by the waiting audience, that's why it flopped. But it is an excellent movie for me. Every bits and pieces has a reason to be there. (It is up to us to interpret.) It is by far not a boring movie. Mr. Stone delivered so many messages and there are so many things to pick up. I would have found it boring if it just repeats what these biographic writing does and no way a movie can match books in terms of biography. The is a story of Alexander told by Oliver Stone, and it is told with great beauty, visually and emotionally. I hope by time, people will realize the value in this movie than just great battle scenes or heroic speeches (and aren't these battles and speeches enough by now in cinema).
After all let's be more moderate to a movie as an audience. After all, we sit comfortably and watch while hundreds worked very hard to deliver us movies. There is never a really bad movie if the crew has been devoted to the making. The pre-requisite of art is devotion (then comes talent and skills). One audience like ourselves can only say, Yes I like it, No I don't. It is the least one can say that Mr. Stone and all his actors and crews have been very devoted to the movie. And for me, I really enjoyed every minute of Alexander.
PS. Yesterday I watched again, and I actually heard some people applause at the end and I happily joined them.