Unless you look at it as the plucky can-do Macedonia sticking it to the stuffy Greeks. Which is something America loves, because we feel it reflects our relationship with Britain. But I'm sure that's not how the movie shows Alex--in all our rush to trumpet his homosexuality, we usually forget he wasn't even Greek.

And of course, Alex loved Achilles, was obsessed with him. Typical--and thus his life cycle is fairly predictable. Life imitates art.

But I don't like the American fetish for the underdog either. It's dishonest, because the reason most like it is because it is how America sees itself. Its psyche has not grown up yet to see that we are no longer plucky or can-do in the face of adversity--we're the ones on top.

I prefer to hear about Breseis than Achilles, Roxann than Alexander. I want the apocrypha.