Alxander was a human being

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2005)

Everybody has watched many epics where the protagonist was a hero. In almost all of them, the hero is like an unbreakable man who could kill lots of enemies and fight battles as a lion. Great, this is wonderful and it fits the historical knowledge we have about them. Alexander was shown as this strong man in that wonderful film starred by Richard Burton in the 1950's.
Oliver Stone, however, decided to make something knew: show Alexander the Great in his human side. His life is told since his birth until his death, without leaving behind things that may be common in someone's life, like love and fear.
Alexander's mother is shown as a woman who always wanted her son to rule the world. She believed this would make her powerful as well. This eager for power made her try to control Alexander, who was obviously uncomfortable with it.
Alexander was also shown in his homosexual life (something ignored in the version with Richard Burton). This may spoil the hero symbol for some people who don't like gays...
But this version by Oliver Stone has lots of battles, just like this kind of movie must have. And these fights are really well done. Sometimes they are shocking because of the violence that is shown.
The cast is great. Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Christopher Plummer and Colin Farrell as the protagonist. I liked their performances a lot.
My rate 8/10