The life of Alexander before and after he became the king of Macedonia, the film uses an interlude, which actually shows that Alexander was influenced by his parents throughout his life - he tried his best to prove himself to them, and he was also trying his best to get rid of their shadow.
From childhood to middle age, from a weak and cute baby to a powerful king; from hating his father for treating his mother badly, to hating his mother for killing his father, from wanting to protect his mother to fleeing her, from wanting to be a father to being afraid of being him. This intricate emotion intensifies in the second half of the film, and finally reaches a self-contradictory extreme when he kills Cleitus out of control.
On the way to becoming a king, a legend, and a myth, he is desperate. Conquer, keep conquering. Away from the homeland of Macedonia, set foot in the deserts of Persia, the plains of Asia Minor, and the jungles of India in the rainy season. What's more difficult than the trek all the way and leave the country is that the warriors are still holding the air of Greek civilization and noble blood, but the king married a Babylonian woman as the queen, and later even had a drink with the natives of India. In this regard, in modern eyes, Alexander is a great pioneer in promoting Globalization, but in the eyes of Macedonians, this is undoubtedly the most tyrannical betrayal. They regard Babylon as a barbarian, and as for India, it is even more "desperate and evil" - this sentence comes from Alexander's Babylonian queen, who made friends with Indians who were considered inferior by Babylonians. It is no wonder that Macedonian warriors and nobles, Finally, public outrage broke out here.
The feast by the fountain pool in India is the key climax of a conflict in the film, not because of Bagoas' coquettish dance, but also because of the fiercest confrontation here, which can be said to be between Alexander and Cleitus, or it can be said that Alexander's heart struggle between. In fact, without Ptolemy's reminder, we can also see Alexander's disgust for his father's alcoholism in the interlude of the previous paragraph - his father raised his sword to catch up with Alexander, but fell over because of excessive alcoholism - as if watching a joke of a fainting king . But at this moment, Alexander was just like his father, equally indulgent and triumphant. It is not difficult to understand that in the confrontation with Cleitus, Alexander saw his father by mistake.
Father Philip's name is Alexander's weakness. The words "tyrant" and "stunned prince" shattered Alexander's remaining rationality paralyzed by alcohol. His disgust for his father finally turned into disgust for himself. Selfishness, arrogance, loss of popular support, these things that Alexander tried to avoid, at this time, seemed to have the evil root in his genes.
After Hephaistion's death, was Alexander yelling "You all hate him" to everyone, just an angry statement to vent his pain? In fact, other people's hatred of Hephaistion is not mentioned too much in the film, but it is associated with the Babylon princess who mistaken Hephaistion for Alexander when he surrendered. The latter's sentence "He is also Alexander" has no deep meaning.
The relationship between Hephaistion and Alexander seems to be more like what Aristotle encouraged, "they will compete to bring out the best in each other", Hephaistion is like a part of Alexander's body or soul, not only life and death Trust, Alexander with Hephaistion on his side is a better Alexander. So saying, "You all hate him" alludes to the subtext of "You all hate me".
Alexander is suspicious, angry, and bloodthirsty. But it is such a military power, domineering, and arbitrary man that makes people sympathetic, because unlike his father, he is clearly conscious and can be neglected; he worships the gods, but he can be a human being. Stubbornness and remorse, self-discipline and loss of control, nobility and sin, strength and fragility, divinity and humanity, coexist distorted in Alexander. The legend came to Oliver Stone and turned into a story of flesh and blood.
The old Ptolemy said: "Dreams are weary, and before they kill us, dreams must die." But we see that dreams did not kill Alexander, on the contrary, he returned to Babylon, rejuvenated his country and ruled the country with great interest.
So what killed Alexander?
If it is different, then it will bring evil consequences.
If it is fate, then, Scorpio Lone Star.
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