Shows or movies based on historic figures and events are hard to pull off if the goals are to be both entertaining and somewhat true to history. If we accept that some inaccuracies can't be avoided in order to appeal to audiences what would you consider cornerstones and pillars about Alexander and his history that can't/shouldn't be touched in order to paint a somewhat realistic picture in media based on him and his life?
How to Make a Responsible Movie or Documentary about Alexander
I saved this to answer around the time of the Netflix release. For me, there are four crucial areas, so Iâll break it down that way. Also. I recognize that the LENGTH of a production has somewhat to do with what can be covered.
But, first of allâŠwhat story is one telling? The story arc determines where the focus lies. Even documentaries have a story. Itâs what provides coherence. Is it a political tale? A military one? Or personal? Also, what interpretation to take, not only for Alexander but those around him. Alexander is hugely controversial. Itâs impossible to make everyone happy. So don't try. Pick an audience; aim for that audience.
Alexander had preternatural tactical skills. His strategy wasnât as good, however, especially when younger. Tactics can be a genius gift (seeing patterns), but strategy requires experience and knowledge of the opposition. The further into his campaign, the more experience he gained, but the cultures became increasingly unfamiliar. He had ups and downs. He was able to get out of Baktria finally by marrying Roxana. That was strategy, not tactics. He beat Poros, then made a friend of him; thatâs strategy. Yet he failed to understand the depth of the commitment to freedom among the autonomous tribes south along the Indus, which resulted in a bloody trek south. And his earlier decision to burn Persepolis meant heâd never fully reconcile the Persian elite.
So, itâs super important to emphasize his crazy-mad tactical gifts in all forms of combat, from pitched battles to skirmishes to sieges. Nobody in history ever equaled him except maybe Subatai, Genghis Khanâs leading general. In the end, I think thatâs a lot of Alexanderâs eternal fascination. He fought somewhere north of 250 battles, and lost none (where he was physically present).
But HOW to show that? What battles to put on screen? Oliver Stone combined three into one + Hydaspes because he had only 2-3.5 hours (depending on which cut you watch). The Netflix series is going to show all four of the major pitched battlesâŠor at least all 3 for the 6-episode first part. They had circa 4.5 hours to play with, but they cut out other things, like Tyre.
Another issue, from the filming/storytelling point-of-view is how to distinguish Issos from Gaugamela for the casual viewer. Theyâre virtually identical in tactics (and players on the field). So it made a fair bit of sense to me for Stone to conflate them. In a documentary, itâs more important to separate them, largely to discuss the fall-out.
Some v. important clashes werenât the Big Four. Among these, the sieges of Halikarnassos and Tyre are probably the most impressive. But the Aornos Rock in India was another amazing piece. Iâd also include the bridging of the Indus River to illustrate the astonishing engineering employed. Again, if I had to pick between Halikarnassos and Tyre, Iâd pick Tyre. I was a bit baffled by Netflixâs decision to show Halikarnassos instead, but I think it owed to an early error in the scripts, where they had Memnon die there. I corrected that, but theyâd already mapped out the beats of the episodes, so they just kept Halikarnassos. Thatâs fine; it was a major operation, just not his most famous siege.
Last, I really wish somebody, someday, will do something with his Balkan campaigns. What he did in Thrace and Illyria, at just 21, showed his iron backbone and quick thinking. Itâd make a great âand the military genius is bornâ set-up, drama wise. But you could use the Sogdian Rock to show the clever streak, at least (âFind men who can flyâ ⊠âI did; look up.â Ha) Plus it has the advantage of being where he (maybe) found Roxana.
Last, he fought extremely well--wasn't just good at tactics. Being a good general doesnât necessarily make one a good fighter. He was. Almost frighteningly brave, so show that too.
Ya gotta deal with the âDid he really think he was a god?â thing, and the whole trip to Siwah. I obviously donât think he believed he was a god; itâs one of the things I disliked about the Netflix showâs approach, but they were dead-set on it. I DO think he came to believe he was somehow of divine descent, but of course, thatâs not the same as most moderns understand it, as Iâve explained elsewhere. It made him a hero, not a god on a level with Zeus, and to ME, thatâs an important distinction that Netflix (and to some degree Stone) rode roughshod over.
But Iâd like to see more inclusion of sacrifice and/or omen-readingâreligion in general. Cutting the Gordion Knot (omens!). His visit to Troy (Netflix tackled that one). A really cool thing would be to make more of the lunar eclipse before Gaugamela. Again, Netflix touched on that, but itâs one of those chance events that might actually have affected a battleâs outcome, given how seriously the ancient near east took sky omens. (A solar eclipse once halted a battle.) The Persians were freaked out. Even his massacre of the Branchidai in Sogdiana was driven by religion, not military goals. Pick a couple and underscore them.
I give Stone big props for the sacrifice before the Granikos/Issos/Gaugamela battle. It was so well-done, Iâve actually shown it in my classes to demonstrate what a battlefield sphagia sacrifice would look like.
Alexander was deeply religious. Show it.
Ah, for ME the most interesting stuff surrounding Alexander occurs at the political level. Hereâs where the triumph story of his military victories all went south. He knew how to win battles. He was less good at managing what heâd conquered.
In terms of a story arc, the whole period up to Gaugamela is really the âriseâ of the story. Post-Gaugamela, things began to collapse. And I would pin the turn on PERSEPOLIS. Yes, burning it sent home a message of âMission accomplished.â But he was selective about it. Areas built by Darius I were spared, Xerxesâ were destroyed: a damnio memoriae.
Problem: Persepolis embodied Persia, and ATG essentially shat on it. Not a good look for the man who wanted to replace Darius III. That he also failed to capture and/or kill Darius created an additional problem for him. Finally, his lack of understanding of how politics worked in Baktria-Sogdiana resulted in an insurgency. Bessos was going to rebel, regardless. But Spitamanes might not have. Alexander created his own mess up there.
Another matter to look at is why he created a new titleâKing of Asiaâinstead of adopting the Persian title (King-of-Kings). I donât think that was a âmistake.â He knew perfectly well the proper Persian title (KshÄyathiya)âŠand rejected it. He adopted some Persian protocol, but not all of it. After the summer of 330, he was essentially running two parallel courts, which seemed to satisfy neither the Persians nor his own men. (Kinda like docudramas are a hybrid that seems to annoy perhaps more than satisfy.)
So Iâd like to see this handled with some nuance, but itâs intrinsically difficult to doâeven while, if done well, it would be the most interesting part of an Alexander story, imo.
So, what events, what eventsâŠ3-4 leap out after Alexanderâs adoption of some Persian dress. The Philotas Affair, the Pages Conspiracy, the Death of Kleitos, the marriage to Roxana. Iâd show it all, although I could also understand reducing the two conspiracies to one, for time, in which case, the Philotas Affair because it resulted in the fall of Parmenion. But the fact there were two, not just one, tells a story itself.
What about the proskynesis thing with Kallisthenes? Iâve come to disbelieve it ever happened, even though itâs symbolic of the whole problem. So, weirdly, Iâm of two minds about showing it. OTOH, it wonât be in my own novels. But OTOH, I could easily see why a showrunner or director might want to include it. And it certainly appears in several of the histories, including Arrian.
Then we have the two indisciplines (mutinies)âŠone in India that made ATG turn around, and another at Opis. Theyâre really two different things as one was an officerâs rebellion, the other the soldiers themselves. But will viewers be able to distinguish between them? Itâs like the Issos/Gaugamela problem, or for that matter, the two conspiracies. Theyâre similar enough to confuse the casual viewer. âDidnât we already see that?â
But if they were narrowed to one, how to choose? The mutiny on the Hyphasis provides an explanation for why he turned back. But the Opis event was more dramatic. The man jumped down into the middle of a rioting crowd and started (essentially) knocking heads together! So if I had to pickâŠOpis. The other might could be mentioned in retrospect.
Here are five things I think really OUGHT to be shown, or that I have yet to be pleased by.
1) Philip isnât an idiot and should get more than 10 minutes of screentime. Oh, and show Alexander did learn things from him. Stone had to make his movie a Daddy-Issues flick, and the Netflix thing did very little with Philip as they wanted to get to the Alexander-Darius face off (which was the meat of their story). But thereâs a very interesting love/competition story there.
2) Olympias is not a bitch and was not involved in Philâs murder, although I can see why that is catnip to most writers. She did kill Eurydikeâs baby and (by extension) Eurydike. One of the historians in the Netflix story (Carolyn, unless I misremember) talked about the rivalry between the two wives, at least. But I think ATG planned to marry the widow and Olympias got rid of her to prevent it. Now THATâS a story, no? But they were in too much of a hurry to get to Persia.
3) Alexander was not an only child! He had sisters (and a brother) with whom he was apparently closeâŠand a cousin who was his real rival. To me, missing that cousin rivalry overlooks a juicy personal/political story! Too often all the focus winds up on Alexander-Olympias-Philip-Eurydike-Attalos, but man, a more subtle showrunner could do a lot with the Alexander-Amyntas rivalry. But heâs constantly cut out. I canât think of a documentary that actually addresses Amyntas except in passing (if at all)l
4) Hephaistionâs importance is a must, but Iâd like to see him treated as someone with a personality and authority of his own, besides just as ATGâs lover. At least Netflix Went There onscreen with the love-story part, but otherwise, the writers couldnât figure out what to do with him. Neither Stone nor Netflix really portrayed him as his own person. I do understand why they canât show the whole cast of characters. I had to do weeding myself in the novels, but Iâm annoyed Netflix showed only Hephaistion and Ptolemy. Whereâs Perdikkas (so important all along really, but certainly later)? Or Philotas, Kleitos, Krateros, Leonnatos, Lysimachos (later king of Thrace)? I think viewers could probably have handled at least another 5 people, especially if introduced gradually, not all at the beginning.
5) Alexanderâs apparently very real affection for the people in his orbit, from personal physician (Philip) to childhood pedagogue (Lysimachos [not same as above]) to Aristotle to various other philosophers. He was so loyal to his friends, in fact, he initially jailed the people who brought word of Harpalosâ first flight.
He needed to be loved/appreciated and wanted to give back to people. Yes, generosity was expected of kings, and as a king (THE king), his generosity had to excel that of anybody else. But he seemed to genuinely enjoy giving presents. I think of him like that one friend who heard you say you liked that cute pair of âHello, Kittyâ socksâŠthen 6 months later theyâre your Christmas present from them. Some of his gifts were grandiose, but not always. I love the dish of little fish (probably smelts) that he sent to Hephaistion, presumably just because his friend liked smelts!
To me, point #5 would be easy to get in with a skilled scriptwriter, tucked into the corners of other scenes. Itâd be fun to highlight the personal side. If we can believe Plutarch, he was a PRODIGIOUS letter-writer. Also, he loved to hunt, so thatâs another thing. And he loved the theatre, and to watch sport. These would all be very humanizing details.
I think the biggest issue is that most of these documentaries/docudramas are done by people who donât know squat about Alexander aside from a few things, before deciding to make a documentary/movie about him, or write a book. Their research is shallow, and even if they bring on the experts, they donât always listen. Stone DID at least have a long fascination with ATG, but it caused him to try to throw in everything but the kitchen sink. It wasn't as bad of a film as some have made it out to be, just horribly bloated and for all his reading, he never understood the WORLDVIEW. I wrote about that some while back in my review.
The best documentary/movie would be told by an actual specialist who knew enough at the outset to craft a better, more complex story arc.
Or maybe Iâm just biased because I tried to do that myself in my novels. đđđđ