Perfection

Rating: 10/10 (10 September 2005)

This is actually the first time i am writing a 'review' of a movie as i haven't found any movie worth of it as it has always been just a movie, but this time its different.. Being born in todays Macedonia, I've always thought it would be really great to see a modern remake of a movie about Alexander, and it has finally happened. I was not going to see it in the theater as i heard a lot of bad talk about it, how the story is badly connected too much CGI etc etc.. then my friend called me and invited me to the movies to see it with him as he had already seen it but wanted to see it one more time. To my comment that people on the net haven't said too much good stuff about it he just said 'people are stupid'. To which I thought it really may have something into it.. so i gave it a try. As the first 15 minutes passed by i was totally moved by its perfectly fluid introduction combined with the music of Vangelis which transcends this life and i don't think anyone would ever be a better suit for this movie's composer.. not to mention he is a Greek which gives an even better feel of 'tradition and culture' attached to the movie. At this point i said.. OK , maybe later on the movie goes terribly wrong.. but it didn't.. There are movies that entertain us, teach us some lessons , make us think and then there are those that touch the deepest parts of our souls. Being a highly spiritual person, this movie was an incredible spiritual journey through the eyes of the soul of Alexander. As Farrell stated in one interview, today's major popularity is so narrow minded that they boil down everything to sex, not to mention the arrogant prejudice that todays moral standards are the best that have ever been.
I can say that this movie has touched me more than any one before, it made two grand points.
1) That people who have high idealistic goals, visions and dreams of harmony and love in the world can and will succeeded even if many of them initially fail, they failures pave the way for the next that will come and continue their quest. 2) That todays majority of population is totally ignorant of these values and the best thing they can think of after seeing this movie is think if Alexander was gay and the totally stupid and sad arguments among current Greeks and Macedonians of whether Alexander was Greek or Macedonian and who was who etc etc.. totally disappointing the aspirations of their main hero and ancestor who strives till the end of his life for human unification , one nation and one race where people are valued by deeds not heritage.. it is a shame either of these people claim him to be their ancestor.
For once in all the movies i've seen (and i've seen lots of them in my 25 years of life), we don't just get to see the physical accomplishments and the outside look of a true hero, we get to live and feel his life through his soul, which is something of a great great value to someone like me valuing the most in life my soul experiences above all. We get a glimpse of how true deep passion for something feels, how life has so much meaning if we have that passion and so little if we don't , we also see on the downside how lonely one gets when one ascends higher and higher towards the top where only few are able to follow and how lonely and full of suffering the path of a true hero is, even though on the outside he is envied by the most. And the acting of Collin Farrell is so energetic and involved, one can feel he truly did get inside the mind frame of Alexander.. which i got confirmed after reading he went to visit the grave of Philip and cried over it..
This movie is so much into the future that it will take time for it to be recognized for its true meaning. This movie is not about the battles, they were all alike, he came and won , over and over again, one and the greatest battle is enough to make us see what was it like, and another to make us see how difficult it could get.. this movie is also not about the details of sex preference of Alexander, which makes them completely irrelevant if we were to judge them from ancient point of view, it is neither about the todays layout of how a certain movie should look like (plot, characters, logic etc etc).
This movie is about the spiritual journey of Alexander, the deeds that affected his soul and the people he shared his quest with. Its about the following of ones passion truly and honestly, its about a manifestation of most of the extremes a human can dream to achieve, he had it all on both of the polarities of light and darkness (honesty , friendship , loyalty , leading by example, extreme honor , mercy but also swift dealing with his enemies, brutality , unforgivingness, high temperament and anger).. everything a true king had to have for its time.
I am still finding it difficult to process the intense energetic journey i had during those short 3 hours of time and packed with (as the ads said) the greatest legend of them all , which really happened. It is so packed with energy and feelings that it makes it so much larger than life.
Alexander himself would be proud of it and the points it made.. even though as in his case, it would go misunderstood by the most of people for its true essence.