What's the best Alexander the Great documentary / drama/ movie?

by bonito_broth

I'm interested in exploring more about Alexander the Great. What are some good documentaries / TV mini-series / movies about his life?

I'm aware there's an Alexander the Great movie produced by Oliver Stone. Is it any good, and how's its historical accuracy?

sturnado

Some people on this sub are a real piece of work.

The Oliver Stone movie was a hot mess, about a historically accurate as you'd expect from Hollywood.

While not necessarily about his entire reign, Decisive Battles of the Ancient World was a pretty enjoyable series. Here's an example of what you can expect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2uQNPRjT8A

They use the original Rome: Total War game to help recreate the battles, which was a nice touch even if the game is dated by today's standards.

ShieldOnTheWall

The BBC's "In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great" - Presented by the mighty Michael Wood, is very good.

Oliver Stone's film is fairly entertaining (to me) but obviously largely nonsense.

mizzamir

At my university, the Alexander expert has his students watch "The Man Who Would Be King."

It's about Alexander's myth and cultural power. I highly recommend it.

Raventhefuhrer

I've watched Oliver Stone's movie and although it is much maligned I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's told from the viewpoint of Ptolemy, looking back in his old age at his glorious past although for all of that he doesn't have a major role during the body of the movie.

I would say that the movie is about as historically accurate as you might expect from Hollywood. The Macedonian Phalangites look great, the sets are awesome. The death of Craterus and his troubled relationship with Alexander seemed well done to me.

I think the main criticism you could apply to the movie is Alexander is portrayed as a visionary looking to unite the world under a fair, just government where all peoples are equal. And, while the real Alexander was certainly progressive, I don't think that something like this was his driving force. His love life is also sensationalized to a large degree but, again, this is Hollywood.

This is an article I found that actually goes into a lot of depth on the movie's historical authenticity, and also contrasts to an earlier Alexander movie (which I haven't seen) from the 50's or 60's, so it may be of interest to you - https://www.archaeological.org/pdfs/papers/AIA_Alexander_Review.pdf

My personal feeling is that if you want an in-depth and accurate appraisal of a historical figure, it almost has to come in the format of a book. Movie/Television formats are there primarily for entertainment, and that combined with the limited time, funding, the direction from the powers that be often leads to too many compromises to get a super accurate product.

That said, I enjoyed Stone's movie and if you're interested in Alexander it's probably worth seeing.