ALEXANDER d: Oliver Stone
Alexander (2004)
Direction: Oliver Stone
Screenplay: Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle, and Laeta Kalogridis
Cast: Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Christopher Plummer, Gary Stretch, Neil Jackson, Raz Degan
Colin Farrell in Alexander
Two-time Academy Award winning director Oliver Stone is no stranger to controversy. His latest polemic comes courtesy of the director’s first historical epic, Alexander, the story of the Macedonian ruler (356-323 BCE) who conquered most of the world known to the Ancient Greeks. The arguments thrown about both for and against the film are due to the fact that this (reportedly) US$150,000,000 production officially boasts a bisexual hero who not only is the supreme commander of a conquering army, but who also slaughters his enemies with the type of superhuman fearlessness that would put to shame the heterosexual-est of movie heroes of past and present.
Will audiences accept a homoerotically inclined hero? Was Alexander really attracted to men? Although these are pertinent questions, they rapidly faded into the background as I sat through the three-hour film. Since Alexander’s homoeroticism is only hinted at mostly via some embarrassing dialogue and several lovey-dovey looks the megalomaniac conqueror directs at his right-hand man, I spent my time wondering about other matters: I asked myself how many of the film’s historical events are actually true (several are condensed or fabricated); I marveled at how CGI has improved since Gladiator; I admired Angelina Jolie’s magnetic star presence; I puzzled over the casting of a bleached-blond (bewigged?) Colin Farrell as the Macedonian hero — but for the most part, I looked at my watch, for Alexander is no more than a bloated, misguided attempt at mixing epic filmmaking, sociopolitical commentary, and heavy psychological drama. As a result of its own incertitude, Alexander ends up failing on virtually all counts.
Oliver Stone, who is credited with co-writing the screenplay with Christopher Kyle and Laeta Kalogridis, attempts to show us a complex, multifaceted Alexander — but one we must love and admire. Alexander may be a despot, but he is a despot with good intentions. Like another well-intentioned film despot, the King of Qin of Zhang Yimou’s Hero, Stone’s Alexander is guided by a lofty goal: to unify all the peoples of his world. Whether they want to be unified or not is irrelevant. The emperor knows best — and Stone often sides with him (something that comes as a major surprise from a director well known for his liberal views).
Thus, if Stone’s Alexander seems much too obsessed with his next conquest, it is because he is the innocent victim of a highly dysfunctional family, and not because he is a supreme megalomaniac. If he executes those who rebel against his tyranny, it is all for the good of the empire. Just in case we find those (and other) deeds a tad too revolting, Stone tries to soften his hero. Unlike Richard Burton’s macho Alexander in Robert Rossen’s dreary 1956 production, Colin Farrell’s Macedonian ruler has no qualms about displaying both his "masculine" and his "feminine" sides: he rules, he cries, he murders, he whines, he grows long blond curls, and he may even enjoy sex with men as well as with women. Instead of complex, however, this Alexander appears merely confused. Ultimately, I reached the final credits knowing more (than I wanted to) about Stone’s Alexandrian fetish than about the inner workings of the film’s protagonist.
Alexander begins with an homage to Citizen Kane, in which a ring falls from the hand of the dying emperor. The similarities to Orson Welles‘ analysis of another deeply flawed historical figure end there. Fast forward several decades to Alexandria, Egypt, where Ptolemy (a mechanical Anthony Hopkins), self-proclaimed king of Egypt and one of Alexander’s former generals, recounts the life story of his former leader. We then travel back in time to Macedon, a kingdom (located in today’s northern Greece) ruled by the vulgar, bullish Philip, played in overreaching fashion by a one-eyed Val Kilmer. (Next to Kilmer’s, Fredric March’s overripe Philip in the 1956 film seems like a model of underplaying.)
An official descendant of the demigod Heracles (and by extension, of Zeus), King Philip drinks by the gallon, carouses with both males and females, and clearly has no concept of the meaning of the word "bath." When not participating in orgies or battling one fellow Hellenic tribe or other, the king abuses his Russian-accented wife, Olympias, campily played by a stunning Angelina Jolie. A cunning, manipulative witch with a taste for big, long snakes, and a yen for her little boy, Alexander (Jessie Kamm), Olympias is no stupid queen. This ancient Lady Macbeth knows that her son’s allegiance is all-important for her political — and even her physical — survival. Thus, she is always reminding the young Alexander that no one loves him as much as she does, while adding that his real father is Zeus — not the battle-scarred, one-eyed slob in the next palatial room.
With parents like those two, it is no wonder that Alexander grows up to be a confused teen. He loves his mother, but feels stifled by her at the same time; he loves his father, but is revolted by Philip’s animalistic behavior. (As a child, he had witnessed dad trying to rape mom). Matters worsen when the king impregnates and marries another woman. Both Alexander’s position as heir to the throne and his life are now threatened.
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Tags: Alexander, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Biopics, Colin Farrell, Epics, Film Reviews, Gay Interest, Historical Movies, Raz Degan, Val Kilmer
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