Alexander The Great –
Footsteps In The Sand (Delta)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Documentary: C+
Oliver Stone’s film about the life of Alexander The Great,
2004’s Alexander, is not as absolutely awful as many said. It has problems and is uneven, but it does
have some fine battle scenes, some good (and interestingly odd) casting and
goes out of its way to bring history to life.
I realized that it might even be a notch better after watching Delta’s DVD
documentary release Alexander The Great – Footsteps In The Sand. It is yet another installment in their long
docu-series with the same British-accented narrator that we have been covering
as they have been released.
Minus Stone’s mistakes, mishandling of anyone’s
sexuality and with far too much digital background work, it was like watching
the film all over again going through all the events and facts which happen in
both programs in chronological order.
This is a documentary running 90 minutes, or about half the length of
Stone’s work, but that is not meant to demean Stone. If his film was too long, this work may be considered too
short. You will have to encounter both
and decide for yourself, but both seem to leave out history somehow by their
similar pace, so think of both as starting points.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image once again originates on
video, likely PAL, though this DVD is NTSC.
It uses the usual re-enactors, stills, and taped shots of cities and
historical artifacts. It is clean. The PCM 16bit/48kHz 2.0 CD-type Stereo sound
is not bad, but is mostly filled with lite music as the narrator explains the
history. There are no types of
surrounds and no extras, but it does make for an interesting comparison to the
Stone film, because it touches on many of the same events. Both did their research, at least.
- Nicholas Sheffo
