Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Colin Farrell, Alexander
ALEXANDER Review Pt.1. [Photo: Colin Farrell as Alexander the Great.]
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; 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.
Fast forward to the Battle of Gaugamela (in today's northern Iraq), where Alexander is discussing war strategies with his generals and counselors. His father murdered by a traitor (Olympias may have had a hand in Philip's assassination) and all potential rivals to the throne murdered at his command, Alexander has become the supreme ruler of the Macedonian empire, which now stretches all the way to the border with Persia. Without a Macedonian equivalent of Freud to help him sort through his Oedipus complex, his father-son complex, his demigod aspirations, and other assorted neuroses, Alexander (transformed into Colin Farrell) has turned into an overachiever compelled to go on conquering whichever land he finds in his path. That will keep him as far from Mother's bosom as possible, while proving to himself and to Father in Hades that he is indeed worthy.
According to Alexander's own reasoning, however, he keeps on expanding his empire because the people of West Asia and elsewhere need a civilizing hand to free them from their barbarian (read: non-Greek) ways. Obviously, the screenwriters are making an analogy to current U.S. policies in that part of the world, and the script is peppered with reminders that history is (somewhat) repeating itself. Those include Aristotle's (Christopher Plummer) warning, "The East has a way of swallowing men and their dreams," and Alexander's dreamily affirmation that those barbarians are ready for "change." (One crucial difference between Alexander and today's chickenhawks, however, is that the Macedonian king actively participated in the battles, chopping off arms and heads right along with his soldiers.)
The Battle of Gaugamela — impaled bodies, severed limbs, decapitations — is shot with brutal realism. Oliver Stone and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto offer both panoramic views of the conflict and bloody closeups of the slaughter. Although technically well done (and quite disturbing, when one realizes that so much remains the same in terms of human savagery), the battle sequence suffers from a crucial miscalculation.
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