Alexander

Alexander Information

Alexander is a 2004 epic film based on the life of Alexander the Great. It was directed by Oliver Stone, with Colin Farrell in the title role. The film was an original screenplay based in part on the book Alexander the Great, written in the 1970s by the University of Oxford historian Robin Lane Fox.

The film was critically derided upon its release and failed in the American box office. It grossed only US$34 million domestically, while costing $155 million to produce. However, it did better internationally in recovering its losses, grossing a total of $132 million in overseas revenue.

The two earlier DVD versions of Alexander ("director's cut" version and the theatrical version) sold over 3.5 million copies in the United States. Oliver Stone's third version, Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut (2007) has sold close to one million copies.

Plot

The film is based on the life of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, who conquered Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia and part of Ancient India. Shown are some of the key moments of Alexander's youth, his invasion of the mighty Persian Empire and his death. It also outlines his early life, including his difficult relationship with his father Philip II of Macedon, his strained feeling towards his mother Olympias, the unification of the Greek city-states and the two Greek Kingdoms (Macedon and Epirus) under the Hellenic League, and the conquest of the Persian Empire in 331 BC. It also details his plans to reform his empire and the attempts he made to reach the end of the then known world.

The story begins 40 years after 323 BC, around 283 BC, with Ptolemy I Soter, who narrates throughout the film. We see Alexander's daily life and the strained relationship between his parents. Alexander grows up with his mother Olympias and his tutor Aristotle, where he finds interest in love, honour, music, exploration, poetry and military combat. His relationship with his father is destroyed when Philip marries Attalus's niece, Eurydice.

After Philip is assassinated, Alexander becomes king of Macedonia. Ptolemy briefly mentions Alexander's punitive campaign in which he razes Thebes and burns Persepolis, then gives an overview of Alexander's west-Persian campaign, including his declaration as the son of Zeus by the Oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis, his great battle against the Persian Emperor Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela and his eight-year campaign across Asia.

Also shown are Alexander's private relationships with his childhood friend Hephaestion and later his wife Roxana. Hephaestion compares Alexander to Achilles, to which Alexander replies that, if he is Achilles, Hephaestion must be his Patroclus (Achilles' best friend and his lover). When Hephaestion mentions that Patroclus died first, Alexander pledges that, if Hephaestion should die first, he will follow him into the afterlife. Hephaestion shows extensive jealousy when he sees Alexander with Roxana and deep sadness when he marries her, going so far as to attempt to keep her away from him after Alexander murders Cleitus the Black in India.

After initial objection from his soldiers, Alexander convinces them to join him into his final and bloodiest battle, The Battle of Hydaspes. He is severely injured with an arrow but survives and is celebrated. Later on, Hephaestion succumbs to an unknown illness either by chance or perhaps poison, speculated in the movie to be Typhus carried with him from India. Alexander, full of grief and anger, distances himself from his wife, despite her pregnancy, believing that she has killed Hephaestion. He dies less than three months after Hephaestion, in the same manner, keeping his promise that he would follow him.

Cast

Colin Farrell as Alexander
- Jessie Kamm as child Alexander
- Connor Paolo as young Alexander
Angelina Jolie as Queen Olympias
Val Kilmer as King Philip II
Anthony Hopkins as Old Ptolemy
- Elliot Cowan as Ptolemy
- Robert Earley as young Ptolemy
Jared Leto as Hephaistion
- Patrick Carroll as young Hephaistion
Rosario Dawson as Roxana
Christopher Plummer as Aristotle
David Bedella as Scribe
Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Nurse
Brian Blessed as Wrestling trainer
Gary Stretch as Cleitus
John Kavanagh as Parmenion
Nick Dunning as Attalus
Marie Meyer as Eurydice
Mick Lally as Horse seller
Joseph Morgan as Philotas
Ian Beattie as Antigonous
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Cassander
- Morgan Christopher Ferris as young Cassander
Denis Conway as Nearchus
- Peter Williamson as Young Nearchus
Neil Jackson as Perdiccas
- Aleczander Gordon as young Perdiccas
Garrett Lombard as Leonnatus
Chris Aberdein as Polyperchon
Rory McCann as Crateros
Tim Pigott-Smith as Omen reader
Raz Degan as Darius
Erol Sander as Persian prince
Stéphane Ferrara as Bessus, Bactrian commander
Tadhg Murphy as Dying soldier
Francisco Bosch as Bagoas
Annelise Hesme as Stateira
Toby Kebbell as Pausanias of Orestis
Laird Macintosh as Greek officer
Féodor Atkine as Roxane's father
Bin Bunluerit as Indian king
Jaran Ngramdee as Indian prince
Brian McGrath as Doctor
Oliver Stone (uncredited) as Macedonian soldier at Zeus Statue

Production

Locations

Library of Alexandria: Shepperton Studios, London, England
Pella/Babylon/Indian palaces and myths cave: Pinewood Studios, London, England
Alexandria (effect back plate): Malta
Temple of Pallas Athena, Mieza and Macedonian horse market: Essaouira, Morocco
Gaugamela: desert near Marrakech, Morocco
Babylon gates: Marrakech, Morocco
Bactrian fortress: Lower Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Hindu Kush (effect back plate): Ouarzazate, Morocco
Macedonian amphitheater: Morocco
Hyphasis: Mekong, northeastern Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand
Hydaspes: Central Botanical Garden, Amphoe Mueang, Saraburi Province, Thailand

Reception

Box office

Budget: US$ 155 million
Total domestic grosses: US$ 34,297,191
Total overseas grosses: US$ 133,001,001
Total worldwide grosses: US$ 167,298,192

Controversies

A group of 25 Greek lawyers initially threatened to file a lawsuit against both Stone and the Warner Bros. Film studio for what they claimed was an inaccurate portrayal of history. "We are not saying that we are against gays," said Yannis Varnakos, "but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander". After an advance screening of the film, the lawyers announced that they would not pursue such a course of action.

At the British premiere of the film, Stone blamed "raging fundamentalism in morality" for the film's US box-office failure. He argued that American critics and audiences had blown the issue of Alexander's sexuality out of proportion. The criticism prompted him to make significant changes to the film for its DVD release, whose cover characterizes them as making it "faster paced, more action-packed".

Criticism by historians

Alexander attracted critical scrutiny from historians with regards to factualness. Most academic criticism was concerned with the insufficient adherence to historical details.

The movie is in fact a reduction, rather than a chronicle, of Alexander's life events. It makes use of time compression and it condenses several key events into fewer ones; some actions are attributed to different individuals than those in real history; it generally adheres to milestone facts and phrases, but they are often misplaced in time and in location. The movie additionally skips the initial conquest of Asia Minor Syria and Egypt in its entirety, and from Macedonia the storyline jumps straight to the battle of Gaugamela which took place a good 3/4 years after Alexander moved to conquer the Persian Empire. Alexander and his troops defeat the Persian army in a single battle in the film, but Persian historian Farrokh points out that the real Alexander had to fight several fierce battles before he was able to defeat Darius III. Alexander had to fight major battles at Granicus, Alycarnassus, Issus, Tyre, Gaza and Gaugamela, not to count innumerable other battles and sieges along the route between Turkey and Egypt, but in the film Gaugamela is basically meant to represent the entire campaign. Farrokh also observed that, in the movie, "Greek forces are typically shown as very organised, disciplined, and so on, and what's very disturbing is, when the so-called Persians are shown confronting the Macedonians, their armies are totally disorganised.

In every map or scripture of some kind, all the names of places and the words inscribed are in English (rendered in a simil-Hellenic script). The area containing the whole Greek territory is inscribed as "Greece". At the time, besides being written in ancient Greek script, it would not have been called generically "Greece" but rather, only the names of the main provinces and cities would have been marked, such as Athinai for Athens, Thessalonia for Thessaly, and so on. This, however, is justified in that few would recognize the names were they not Anglicized.

The city of Babylon is made to look like a modern-world metropolis with full night lights and a well-defined skyline. Real "cities" at the time were little more than a jumble of gentry stone palaces surrounded by a palisade or a fortress and thronged by slums of mud huts and corrals.

The final part of Alexander's invasion of Asia shows the Macedonians deep into what appear to be subtropical jungles, while their march really turned back when they were in today's northwestern India, not much further south than modern Rajahstan, where terrain is more desertic and rocky.

Philotas, one of his generals, and the one tried for treason, is made to look little older than a boy, while he was well in his middle forties when he was executed, having served with Philip long before. The same criticism applies to Darius III himself, who was 57 or 58 when he died and in the movie is played by a young actor.

As it happens in many "costumed" movies, unfortunately too few extras wear beards and heavy hairdos as it was normal in the past, as shaving was difficult, painful and uncommon for men well until after the Renaissance, and only people of high rank had the money and the time to get shaven and groomed by barbers every few days, let alone in the middle of a war campaign in the desert. As far as hairdos, only slaves, thieves and prisoners were shorn, along with those who had lice. Most of Alexander's common troops are instead shown clean shaved, short haired and well-groomed.

There is no mention of the famous "Gordian Knot" - an impossible untie-able knot in a rope, that legend said could only be loosened by the true ruler of Asia - Alexander was said to have used his sword to solve the problem in the first part of his campaign.

Other major objections came from Iranian historians, who were upset by the film's renderings of Persians and Macedonians alike. Objections were also raised by Pakistani historians. The final battle depicted in the film, heavily dramatised and altered from history, was the Battle of Hydaspes on Jhelum River in ancient India. Alexander was not (contrary to what the film depicts) severely injured by an arrow from Indian King Porus during this battle. This only occurred during a siege later that year against the Malli in what is now the city of Multan in Punjab. Hydaspes was not fought in a forest on a sunny day, but on a muddy plain on a night with torrential rains. The centre of the Macedonian line was never surrounded by any accounts, though the infantry did suffer many casualties. The film has also been criticised for omitting a famous story about Alexander's conversation with King Porus. When Alexander won the battle, Porus was captured and presented to him. "Tell me", said Alexander, "in what way should I treat you?" Porus replied, "Treat me, O Alexander, like a king." However, a similar scene exists in the film regarding the Princess of Babylon.

Oliver Stone has, in his various commentaries in the film's DVD, defended many of the most glaring historical issues by claiming that he had no time or resources to portray accurately a multitude of battles at the expense of storytelling. He goes into great detail explaining how he merged all the major aspects of the Battle of Granicus and the Battle of Issus into the Battle of Gaugamela, as well as heavily simplifying the Battle of Hydaspes into a straightforward clash, while merging the near-death of Alexander from the siege of Malli.

Criticism by film critics

The film received mostly negative reviews from film critics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 16% rating based on 194 reviews. The consensus states: "Even at nearly three hours long, this ponderous, talky and emotionally distant biopic fails to illuminate Alexander's life."

One of the principal complaints among US film critics was that Alexander resembled less an action-drama film than a history documentary. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote in his review, "[W]e welcome the scenes of battle, pomp and circumstance because at least for a time we are free of the endless narration of Ptolemy the historian."

Faint praise came from Daily Variety Magazine, published on 21 November 2004, for which Todd McCarthy wrote, "Oliver Stone's Alexander is at best an honorable failure, an intelligent and ambitious picture that crucially lacks dramatic flair and emotional involvement. Dry and academic where Troy (2004) was vulgar and willfully ahistorical" Manohla Dargis wrote in The New York Times that Alexander "brought out the best of the worst in terms of inaccurate storytelling that lacks planning."

On his December 11, 2004 episode of Saturday Night Live, Colin Farrell joked about the failure of Alexander during his monolouge saying, "I've been out of the country for 14 months filming Alexander which I think proved to be time well spent."

Nominations

The film was nominated in six categories at the Golden Raspberry Awards in 2005: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Colin Farrell), Worst Actress (Angelina Jolie), Worst Director (Oliver Stone), Worst Supporting Actor (Val Kilmer) and Worst Screenplay, thereby becoming the second-most-nominated potential "Razzie" film of 2004; however, it "won" no awards.

Versions

Director's Cut

Stone's director's cut was re-edited before the DVD release later in 2005. Stone removed thirty minutes of footage and added nine back. This, then, shortened the running time from 175 minutes to 167. The differences between the director's cut and the theatrical version are as follows:

Dates in the flashbacks and flashforwards use normal historical figures, such as 323 BC and 356 BC, as opposed to referring to time lapses, like "30 years earlier". In his commentary, Stone explains that, for the theatrical release in the United States, he had to refrain from using regular "BC" dates, since (according to data collected from test screenings) there was a significant number of viewers who did not know that 356 BC represented an earlier historical period than 323 BC.
Ptolemy's backstory at the beginning is shortened.
The two flashbacks with the arrival of Eurydice to the court and the wedding feast are shifted into the eastern campaign, enveloping the trial of Philotas and assassination of Parmenion.
The scene in which Aristotle gives a lesson to the young Alexander and his friends is re-edited and extended by a few seconds.
Ptolemy's narration leading up to the Battle of Gaugamela gives no reference to the razing of Thebes and burning of Persepol. He mentions the official Macedonian accusation, that Darius assisted the assassination of Philip – in both versions, it is also mentioned when Alexander rallies the troops – and the proclamation by the Oracle of Amun is moved to a later part of the narrative.
There is no scene on the night before the Battle of Gaugamela or the omen reader looking into the intestine of the ox-sacrifice before the Battle of Gaugamela.
In the commentary it is explained that Val Kilmer and other cast members deliberately use an Irish accent as Colin Farrell was unable to lose his, with Irish accents being used as a stand in for a Greek accent.
Directly after Alexander's mourning the dead after the Battle of Gaugamela, there is an additional flashback in which Philip explains the Titans to the young Alexander.
In the theatrical version, during Roxana's dance, Perdiccas can be seen breaking up a fight between Hephaestion and Cleitus. This is removed in the director's cut.
The sex scene between Alexander and Roxana is shortened, and her attempt to kill him after her discovery of his relationship with Hephaestion is cut. More explicit footage of Alexander and Roxana having sex is added.
When Alexander uncovers the page's plot, the director's cut features a scenelet in which Perdiccas goes to arrest Hermolaus, who falls on his sword with the words "Death to all tyrants".
There is no narrative explanation by Ptolemy during the trial of Philotas.
Alexander does not mourn Cleitus.
The flashback of Alexander questioning Olympias does not appear immediately after the flashback of Philip's assassination; rather, it is moved to follow Alexander's grievous wounds in the Battle of the Hydaspes.
The scene in which Roxana is prevented from entering Alexander's tent by Hephaestion is also removed. This is the last remnant of a Roxana-Cassander subplot that was filmed but not included.
Between the scene in which Alexander smashes the "rebellion" within the ranks and the final battle, there is an additional scene in which Alexander reads a letter from Aristotle, who is featured dictating it to an unseen scribe.
Ptolemy's narration of the march through the Gedrosian desert additionally mentions the helplessness of Alexander watching his broken army die due to natural causes and harsh conditions. He does not mention either Alexander's new marriages in his final years or that the march across the Gedrosian desert was the "worst blunder of his life".
The scene of the army returning to Babylon, together with that in which Olympias receives the omen of Alexander's death, is shortened.

Alexander Revisited

Stone also made an extended version of Alexander. "I'm doing a third version on DVD, not theatrical", he said in an interview with Ropeofsilicon.com. "I'm going to do a Cecil B. DeMille three-hour-45-minute thing; I'm going to go all out, put everything I like in the movie. He [Alexander] was a complicated man, it was a complicated story, and it doesn't hurt to make it longer and let people who loved the film [...] see it more and understand it more."

The extended version of the film was released under the title of Alexander Revisited: The Final Unrated Cut on 27 February 2007. The two-disc set featured a new introduction by Stone. "Over the last two years," he said, "I have been able to sort out some of the unanswered questions about this highly complicated and passionate monarch – questions I failed to answer dramatically enough. This film represents my complete and last version, as it will contain all the essential footage we shot. I don't know how many film-makers have managed to make three versions of the same film, but I have been fortunate to have the opportunity because of the success of video and DVD sales in the world, and I felt, if I didn't do it now, with the energy and memory I still have for the subject, it would never quite be the same again. For me, this is the complete Alexander, the clearest interpretation I can offer."

The film is restructured into two acts with an intermission. Alexander: Revisited takes a more in-depth look at Alexander's life and his relationships with Olympias, Philip, Hephaestion, Roxana and Ptolemy. The film has a running time of three hours and 34 minutes (214 minutes, about 40 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and almost 50 minutes longer than the first director's cut) and is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio. Beyond the new introduction with Stone, there are no other extras on the DVD except for a free coupon to the movie 300. The Blu-ray and HD-DVD releases both feature a variety of special features however, including two audio commentaries and a new featurette.

Soundtrack

Main article: Alexander (soundtrack)