Hey all you nitpickers and history buffs already looking at the upcoming film Alexander based on one of the greatest leaders of all time and saying, “That thing won’t be historically accurate, they never are.” Well we have some news for you as the folks over at Archaeology Magazine have sent us a look at an AWESOME article they have posted dedicated to the film, taking an in-depth look at some of the historical and controversial facts surrounding the upcoming Oliver Stone film, which stars Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer and Anthony Hopkins slated to hit theaters November 5th.
The article features an in-depth interview with Oxford historian Robin Lane Fox, who served as the films chief historian. In the course of the interview, Fox discusses a myriad of topics ranging from the much-discussed and debated bi-sexuality of Alexander to how accurate the movie is to real historical accounts. We have included some clips from the article to give you a taste, but to get the full meal deal just click the link at the end of the article.
What did he die of? Poison, cirrhosis, typhoid, and, most recently, West Nile have been suggested. Do you have a favorite among these?
Alexander fell ill after a drinking party in late May 323. He did not die till June 10. “Poison” was not the cause of death: “slow acting poisons” were probably unknown, and anyone who wished to kill him would have made sure of the job within hours. He certainly drank heavily, but always in company, not as a compulsive lone “alcoholic.” I rather doubt it killed him, as he had not lost his energy and physical drive. “West Nile” disease is irrelevant, and supposed evidence for it [crows supposedly observed flying erratically near Babylon] has been misunderstood out of context. There was no epidemic among other troops or officers, but I incline to malaria, caught (admittedly, only by him) in recent trips down the rivers beyond Babylon. Perhaps his seven wounds (the last, nearly three years before) compounded the problem. The truth is that we do not know, though we do know about the slander and accusations which his successors then circulated.
How can what we do know of Alexander’s extraordinary career be distilled into a screenplay that runs perhaps two hours without reducing events and characters to mere sketches, assuming that they aren’t “cut” entirely?
In only two-and-a-half hours, Oliver knew he had to leave out many major events in Alexander’s restless career. But cleverly, he used Ptolemy, reminiscing and as “voice-over,” who could hint at things the film could not show. And he designed the script as a drama, hung round Alexander’s turbulent youth and his present actions, with Ptolemy speaking for the future. These “parallel stories” are not flashbacks: they are a dramatic, closely woven web, of Oliver’s design, whose aim is a powerful drama. Of course, some events had to be brought forward in time or place and merged with similar ones, so as to be all shown on one (expansive!) location. Oliver knew all these changes, and why the film had made them. He was not making a documentary. He was making an epic drama, but the drama is unusually rooted in history. It has scope, though not the total story. And the major characters have a real dramatic power. These characters are all historical people and broadly they play in their main historical roles–as father, mother, tutor, wife, eunuch, general, and so forth. But they are actors in a drama, not a history book, and I accept that a drama must be all to re-combine events which, correctly, occurred at separated intervals, too far apart to be shown in each correct context.
One tricky area in a film adaptation of Alexander’s life is his relationship with Hephaestion. How does the film deal with this? There would be the danger of downplaying it, but wouldn’t there also be a danger of making a Macedonian male-male relationship into a modern one?
Alexander did not have a one-way homosexual orientation, in the prevailing modern use of the term. He had sexual relations with males (including a eunuch) but also with a Persian mistress, his first wife Roxane (mother of his child) and two more Persian wives, too. In youth, his great friend was Hephaestion, and surely the sexual element (frequent between young males, or and older and younger male, in Greek city-states) developed already then. Oliver, Colin, and Jared Leto [who portrays Hephaestion] rightly concluded that sex was not the main element in this love, Alexander’s greatest friendship in his lifetime. But it happened, as authors in antiquity assumed: “Patroclus” to Alexander’s role as a new Achilles. Alexander was not behaving in this way in a “gay,” one-way relationship or counter-culture, nor was he exceptional. The film aims to show a wider love, from boyhood, between the two, and I find it very touching. Correctly, it also shows a sexual element, this time of pure physical desire, between Alexander and the eunuch Bagoas–again, as direct and indirect evidence supports. But no viewer could also miss the sexual charge of Roxane, the woman whom Alexander marries. By avoiding a one-way male-male love-life, the film captures both the “homoerotic” flashes and a boyhood relationship–but also makes it an element, not the element, in Alexander’s nature and his personal appeal.
Obviously there will be critics out there who will pick out every miscue in the history and archaeology that may creep into the film. How will you respond to them?
The film is not a documentary. It uses historical references and detail as its springboards. These references are frequent, and clever. Obviously, the props, costumes, and décor were designed, from scratch, in an amazing four months. Materials forced compromises–and nothing but known, absolutely certain “authenticity” would have left huge gaps anyway (so we often have to guess) or required impossible materials (bronze, marble, etc.). Critics hunting for “historical errors” are hunting for the wrong category. Total “historicity” was impossible, and would leave big gaps besides. The right approach is to look for the density of historical allusion, and reference–and ask whether if gives a powerful “feel” to the drama. I think it does. I remain amazed by the quick researches and commitment to the known details by every department under Oliver’s direction.
This is only a taste of what the article has to offer, and if this was of even the slightest interest to you, you must read on. Just click here to get the rest of the story, this movie may shape up to be just as good as I hoped it would be, and thanks to Archaeology Magazine for the heads up on a great article.
