Lala's Alexander Movie Review!

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DISAPPOINTING, is one word that comes to mind when we think of Oliver Stone's, 'Alexander'. For some one who is of Persian decent, to see my race portrayed as barbarians, looking like Arabs, was most disheartening. King Darius, is named the sixth great Law giver of Egypt for his good acts, which included the completion of the canal linking the red & Mediterranean seas, nearly 2,500 years before Lessep's Suez Canal. the Persians were the ones to author the world's first Charter of human rights. The Persian king, "Cyrus the Great", is called the "anointed of the Lord" in the bible.

For thousands of years before the Arab conquest, the religion of Zarathustra had been followed by the Persians, & it is worth noting, that though there were numerous countries & people under the Persian rule, they were not all 'Zorostrianized', this is testimony to the fact that they respected all righteous people, irrespective of their race or religion.

Herodotus, the 'father of history', noted 2,500 years ago, that Parsi youths are "carefully instructed, from their fifth to their twentieth year in three things alone, to ride, to draw the bow & to speak the Truth"...... & yet, Stone expects us to believe, that Greek boys were taught in their schools, that Persians were barbarians & has depicted them as such ! an empire that has enough gold to feed 3 generations of Greeks, is shown to have an army on foot wearing dirty dish wash like cloths as head gears in war ! Stone doesn't seem to known that Persians still exist, although not in large numbers & that the colour white dominates our lives, be it for weddings, funerals or any rituals, even, our place of worship is one of the 'simplest' you will find amongst any relegion & to show us in gaudy clothes & jewelry just does'nt seem appropriate.

I get the feeling Stone is confusing the Persians with the dessert Bedouins of Arabia, which we are not. "how would you like to be treated?" "like a Princess" is a dialogue, Historically recorded to have taken place between Alexander & King Porusp, when the latter is captured by Alexander, & not between a Persian princess & Alexander, as depicted. In his attempt to make us believe that Alexander was not all ambition, he has very cleverly omitted to show that Alexander, in one of his drunken orgies, had burnt down one of the greatest known libraries of those time in Persipolis, for which Alexander is known by the Persians as not "Alexander the great" but "Alexander the accursed"....Mr. Stone, next time he ventures into making a historical Movie,needs to do his home work & get his facts straight.

review by Lala Shernaz.

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