Alexander 2004

 Alexander 2004 Movie

Alexander Special Edition CD (2)

"Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death" (1).

Summary:

The movie Alexander is directed and cowritten by Oliver Stone, starring Colin Farrell as Alexander, Angelina Jolie as Olympias, and Anthony Hopkins as Old Ptolemy (4). The film shows Alexander the Great's rise to power from his childhood to one of the most renowned military leaders to date. It showcases some of his relationships with his family and companions during this time. We get to see how Alexander has to grasp all of the expectations that get placed upon him, until it inevitably leads to his downfall.

 

  

Alexander and his parents (8) 

The movie depicts Alexander and Hephaestion as 

  romantic interests, even though Aristotle warns that "when 

  men lie together in lust, it is a surrender to the passions 

  and does nothing for the excellence in us" (1). I took this as 

  meaning he does not believe that a gay relationship is 

  natural for a man since they will physically gain nothing in 

  the end. Unlike when in a straight relationship, he can gain 

  a child to carry on his name and fortunes. A turning point in 

  the movie is when it is revealed that Alexander's father, 

  Philip II, has a child with Eurydice baring who is pure 

  Macedonian, unlike Alexander who is only half 

  Macedonian. This lost Alexander's right to the throne until 

  Philip was assassinated and Alexander was able to be 

  crowned king by his supporters. Once this occurred, he 

  killed Eurydice and her son and decided he wanted to fight 

  against the Persian Empire to make his own legacy (1). 

  Once he started winning these major battles, he gained his 

                                                        reputation as a strong leader.

Alexander leading his army (7).

Alexander had been moving all around Asia, trying to conquer as many places as possible, when he met Roxana and married her. Roxana had no status of her own, but by marrying her it helped to control his new territories even more. This led to some jealousy between Hephaestion, who was now also one of Alexander's generals, and Roxana (5). During this time, he had gotten so bloodthirsty that he had killed, and gotten killed, so many people. Alexander was constantly bringing his army into cities and destroying them to the point where his own generals started questioning all of his choices. He even had one of his trusted and loyal generals, Parmenion, executed because his son had been conspiring against Alexander (1).

  

Alexander and Hephaestion (6)

At the end of the movie, Hephaestion got sick 

  due to an unknown illness, likely typhus, and 

  passed away. Earlier in the movie, Alexander 

  and Hephaestion made a vow that if 

  Hephaestion was to die first, Alexander shall 

  follow him in death just like Achilles had done 

  for Patroclus (1). After Hephaestion had died, 

  Alexander was shown dying only a couple of 

  months later. It was revealed in the end 

  by Ptolemy, the narrator and Alexander's first in 

  command, that he actually poisoned Alexander 

                                         so they wouldn't have to go to fight and conquer any more places (5).

Mythological Representation:

I feel as though the movie does a mostly accurate representation of the story of Alexander. Oliver Stone had made some clear reinterpreting based on what he must have believed to enhance the story more. To make the story easier for the audience to understand, there was more modern language and slang. However, the biggest difference that stuck out from what I had known was putting Alexander and Hephaestion in a relationship. Historically, the two were known to be extremely close, but there had been no evidence of any romantic relationship. Different sources and authors claim different things about their relationship, but I did enjoy that Stone chose to write them as being in a romantic one. I feel like it added an element to the story I was not expecting and definitely adapted it to more contemporary attitudes. Society now is much more accepting of being with whoever you would like to be with regardless of gender, and the need to produce a child also isn't as imposed onto people today.

Lighthouse of Alexandria shown in film (1)

The storyline of the film can get a bit confusing as it did jump around a bit. In one of the beginning scenes of the movies, the lighthouse of Alexandria is shown, however, this was not built until after Alexander's death (3).  In doing so, I don't believe they got all of Alexander's storyline. I felt like the film lacked a bit of what truly made Alexander "the Great" by not adding in more of how he figured out some military strategies and his relationships with other political leaders. It is a movie though, so I understand they just couldn't fit everything in since there was so much that could be said about his life. An example of them pushing storylines together is that in the film Alexander had an arrow through the lung in the battle of Hydaspes, when that really happened when he stormed the Malians (9).

The film showed a particularly good theme of ambition with how Alexander constantly wanted to keep on going and conquering more land. I liked how it showed that too much ambition can be dangerous because he wanted it so badly that he made some significant sacrifices. He kept going until he went too far and lost it all by having his troops and people all start turning against him and questioning him. It showed the importance of letting people keep your ambition in check in order to protect yourself.

Alexander talking to his troops (10).

Overall, I found the film Alexander to be mostly accurate to what I had already known and read about Alexander the Great. I feel like it gives an overview to his story with only a couple pieces of inconsistent data with other films and novels that I had noticed. I think the film made Alexander be a bit more emotional and weaker than I had otherwise pictured him to be, but that made him more human and a bit easier to sympathize with. This is getting readapted again into another movie of Alexander which is coming out this year, you can find the trailer here. 

Work Cited

1. Alexander. Directed by Oliver Stone, performances Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie, Intermedia, 2004.
2. “Alexander.” The Movie Database, www.themoviedb.org/movie/1966-alexander/images/posters. 
3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "lighthouse of Alexandria". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/lighthouse-of-Alexandria.
4. “Alexander (2004) - Full Cast and Crew - IMDb.” IMDb, www.imdb.com/title/tt0346491/fullcredits.
5. “Alexander (2004) - Plot - IMDb.” IMDb, www.imdb.com/title/tt0346491/plotsummary.
6. Garvey, Patrick. “Were Alexander the Great and Hephaestion Lovers? — Ancient Heroes.” Ancient Heroes, 12 Jan. 2024, ancientheroes.net/blog/alexander-hephaestion-lovers.
7. “Alexander - Publicity Still of Colin Farrell.” MovieStillsDB.com, 2004, www.moviestillsdb.com/movies/alexander-i346491/96f94b.
8. “Alexander (2004).” IMDb, www.imdb.com/title/tt0346491/mediaviewer/rm336629504.
9. Mann, M. J. “Alexander’s Injuries Part 2.” The Second Achilles, 2 Nov. 2013, www.thesecondachilles.com/2013/11/01/alexanders-injuries-part-2.
10. “Alexander (2004) | MUBI.” MUBI, mubi.com/en/us/films/alexander.