Alexander the Great: Star-studded cast but a possible Oscar nomination?

By Ana Antunes

December 3, 2004 | Greeks are the hot stuff this year. If you don’t think so you can go ask any Hollywood producer. Two of the biggest productions of the year were inspired by the ancient Greek history. The latest one to hit the screen is the story of one a man that conquers 90% of the known world by the age of 27.

The tale of Alexander the Great is told amazingly by Oliver Stone. The director portraits the king that wanted to be like the warriors in the Greek mythology with the treatment he deserves. The direction is definitely the best part of the movie. The scene in with Alexander is hurt against the Indians is a splendid work of photography. The movie has a lot of battle scenes (as expected, of course…) but the direction is so good that not one single drop of fake blood is shed in vain. Only the fight scenes essential to the story are used.

The cast of the movie is full of stars. Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Rosario Dawson and Jared Leto. Farrell and Jolie are the ones that deserve a more detailed comment. He plays the main character of the movie and she plays his mom, which is not very fair since Angelina Jolie could never be mother of a man that old. But it’s Hollywood and everything is possible… And that doesn’t make her job less worthy.

Anyways, they both perform a terrific joke. Farrell can express the courage of the warrior and his need for power.

The desire of Alexander to be bigger and more powerful than his dad is clear. Jolie plays Olympia, Alexander’s mom. Olympia is a bitter lady that sees an epic future for her kid, and ambitious as female character in a Greek story, she seeks triumph for her offspring at all costs.

Hopkins is responsible for narrate the story of Alexander to the viewers. Ptolemy (Hopkins’ character) was one of Alexander’s closest warriors and, in an older age decides to write the history, and the story of the greatest warrior of his time.

The movie created a controversy about the sexuality of Alexander. It’s well known that the Greeks saw homosexuality differently than we do today. The Gay community around the world is protesting saying that the
movie does not show Alexander’s involvement with men.

Despite the fact that the movie does not show any explicit scene of sex between the king and another man; is evident the love between Alexander and Hephaestion (Leto’s character).

The movie is one of the biggest movies of the year and with the Oscars nomination coming, there is a big chance that Alexander will be indicated for several of them.

MK
MK