Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:03 am
Don't get me wrong: I have no disagreement with the above. Budgets, running time, etc all impact on the film. And, in film, perception is all. The distinct impression is that there was one climactic battle that felled Persia. I know that Ptolemy mentions the others but those with a minimal knowledge will have picked up that aforementioned distinct impression.athenas owl wrote:[Paralus, what you call "conceit" is called "lack of budget and time" in Hollywood. He didn't imply that there was only one battle, but that Gaugamela was the high point of ATG's life. After that, things began to fall apart. He threw in Cleitus saving ATG's life because it was a great story and set up the tragedy of ATG then murdering him years later. It took a minute for me to get the galloping to Babylon thing. Again, it was a film, and if ATG had been sauntering away from the center it wouldn't have had the visual impact.
And the combined battle in India, it actually showed just how different and "unhappy" it was was for ATG than Gaugamela had been. The "jungle" setting was to make the point that India was a very different place (even the camera filters were different, more grainy, diffused or something).. And did you miss the part in Ptolemy's narration where he mentions the savage butchery on the part of the Macedonians?
The combined Indian battle rankled too. It is extremely unlikely that Alexander ever took his phalanx into a forest to fight. I grant your point about creating the different feel. The arty red colouring drove me up the wall I must say.
I still believe that a proper reconstruction of Gaugamela will have been just as punchy as the ridiculous full-on charge to Babylon before straightening. The tension will have mounted as the armies closed the gap and Alexander inexorably trooped to the right and forward. Then the engagement of Alexander’s van with the Scythians, the ensuing desperate cavalry holding battle on the right as Alexander seizes the moment to straighten the attack and fall on the Persian line with the hypaspists and aesthetairoi.
I didn't like the film terribly much. My wife bought me the Director's Cut and I haven't bothered with the "final take" or whatever.
I’m afraid, when it comes to the history and this film, I'll have to beg you to allow me my crusty curmudgeonness