The film chronicles the lives of a travelling actors troupe over the years during and after the second world war. Each time the actors try and act out their play 'Golfo The Sheperdess', something interrupts their performance, so they can never finish it. Such as a bomb siren or bullets being fired etc. The film starts in 1939 at the last year of the Metaxas fascist dictatorship (featured in his previous film 'Days of 36') and finishes in 1952 with the right-wing Greek Mobilization Party winning the election.
This, almost four hour, film is considered Angelopoulos's best film and the best Greek film ever made. This is my third film of his which I have seen, and it is taken from my DVD set Theo Angelopoulos Collection Vol 1. The long running time and how it is hard to obtain, are the two main reasons why this is a well-known film which not many people have seen. It has no American release, even after the director's death in 2012. Where do I begin reviewing a 222 minute film?
The film is like nothing I have seen. A Greek epic spanning 13 years, during Greece's most turbulent period of the 20th Century. It's a part of history which I never knew existed, but far more interesting than I could have expected. The film tells us about the fascist occupation, the formation of the EAM (Communist Party: the National Liberation Front), the execution of communist prisoners, British and American involvement and the many street wars between the two parties, resulting in many deaths. All this history is told from the perspective of 'The Travelling Players'.
It's a huge task to get all of this into one film (hence why it's almost 4 hours). Not only does Angelopoulos manage to do this, but he adds and improves all of his auteuristic techniques used in his two previous films. They aren't showing off techniques used by many directors to make their films different and unique, but they genuinely add to the atmosphere of the film.
Individual Camera shots last long durations of time, many of which are over 10 minutes. All of the shots are filmed from a medium to long distance from the main characters, feeling like I am not directly involved with the events of the film, but looking from a distance. The closest the camera gets, are the three separate shots when three of the main characters talk directly to the camera. Now it feels like we are intruding into the story, making for some intentional uncomfortable viewing. A normal conversation in a normal film would have constant cutting to the person who is speaking, but here, the camera takes one continual long duration shot from a distance, that sometimes shows the back of the character's heads. Sometimes it's what we don't see then what we do. There is a scene where the Players are lined up against the wall and ready to be shot, but a shoot-out occurs and they escape. We do not see the firefight, but instead see the Players's reaction to it.
Four hour films are far and few between, but it is even rarer for the film to be constantly engaging and interesting for the entire duration. This is a film that uses every minute of the runtime effectively. It's a monumental film, with large events, hundreds of extras, and impressive location design. It should be a seen by every film fan. Everything from the music, to the locations, take us to a time and a place no other film has taken us to. It feels like a once in a lifetime film, and this is the reason for the high score.
A film that stays beautiful, powerful and interesting for it's entire 222 minute running time. This is the meaning of the word epic.
SCORE
95
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