Days of 36 (1972)

  'Days of 36' (Meres tou '36) is a 1972 Greek film directed by Theo Angelopoulos.

  In 1936 Greece, a trade unionist is shot in broad day light at a rally. Sofianos, a police informer, has been jailed for the assassination. While in prison, Sofianos takes hostage a Conservative politician. The government has to decide whether to kill Sofianos or not. If they give into his demands for freedom, they will lose enough votes to lose the next election.

  The second film in the Theo Angelopoulos Collection Vol 1, is far slower than the first film 'Reconstruction'. Whereas 'Reconstruction' focuses on a detestable husband and wife characters, 'Days of 36' centres around a group of politicians. They are mediocre protagonists, that you don't root for or against. I wasn't on the side of Sofianos, but neither on the side of the politicians, so when events occur, I do not know who to sympathize with. The characters have many flaws, and is therefore a problematic factor that is consistent throughout the film.

  This is a 30 minute film, told over two hours. Most of the runtime is taken watching people walk from one place to another. Things happen ridiculously slowly. I know it's his style, but the story needs more action.

  The cinematography is a major step up from his first film, using colour to full force. Despite the film's 'do nothing' approach, the film is luscious to watch, so the 1 hour 45 minutes is not tedious whatsoever. The film may have one event happening every ten minutes, but the camera movements and the flat landscape hypnotise you into forgetting this. The camera tends to be medium to long-shot for the entirety, with sunlight casting long shadows on the dry floor. It's a wonderful style, but makes it hard to recognize the characters. This got pretty bad in places, resulting in an end where (SPOILER 1).

  Angelopoulos's films are entirely different from anything else in cinema. The closest is Hou Hsiao-Hsien, as both adore long takes and long shots, as well as having a section of their filmographies dedicated to films about their country's history. This film is a historical snapshot into 1930s Greece, at a time before the Metaxas dictatorship. If I knew more about Greek history, this would have been far more fascinating. As I don't, it's a film purely to look at.

TO CONCLUDE
Painfully slow, but nice to look at. It's fairly interesting as it tells a part of history that is forgotten by the masses.

SCORE
68

SPOILER 1 (highlight)--> I didn't recognise the three men shot in the last scene<--