Alexander the Great (1980 film)

Alexander the Great
Directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos
Produced by Theo Angelopoulos
Nikos Angelopoulos
Written by Theo Angelopoulos
Petros Markaris
Starring Omero Antonutti
Eva Kotamanidou
Mihalis Giannatos
Music by Chalaris Christodoulos
Cinematography Giorgos Arvanitis
Edited by Giorgos Triandafyllou
Production
companies
Theo Angelopoulos Films
Radiotelevisione Italiana (R.A.I.)
Zweites Deutches Fersehen (Z.D.F.)/ARTE
Greek Film Center (GFC)
Distributed by IFA (Argentina)
fr:trigon-film (Switzerland, Austria, Germany)
Release dates
  • July 1980 (1980-07)
Running time
 210 minutes
Country Greece
Language Greek
English

Alexander the Great (Greek: Ο Μεγαλέξανδρος) is a 1980 Greek film directed by Theo Angelopoulos.

Plot

The film is based on the Dilesi Massacre of 1872 during which several bandits kidnapped British tourists and demanded a ransom.[1] The film opens with a character named Alexander the Great who is the leader of the bandits being freed from prison.

Alexander and the bandits kidnapped a group of British aristocrats and bring them to an agrarian community in the mountains that Alexander, the villagers, and a group of Italian anarchists (who arrive later in the film) are trying to build on a system of public ownership and egalitarian beliefs. They demand that the aristocrats return the land to the villagers but their demands are not met when soldiers surround the settlement.

The anarchists, at differences with Alexander, try to leave but are killed by the soldiers. The soldiers also kill Alexander's original comrades. The villagers murder Alexander in what Vrasidas Karalis notes as a practice of theophagia, or god-eating. The only survivor is a child. The camera pans over Athens and a voice-over states: "This is how Alexander entered the cities...."[2][3][4]

Cast

Production

The film was financed by Angelopoulos himself along with the help of German and Italian television.[5] The source text was The Book of Megalexandros and the Dilesi Massacre in 1972.[6]

Style

Angelopoulos has said on his own film: "The first thing to be said is that it's the most simple film I've made so far. Its progress is linear, and it hasn't developed its stylistic form in the course of editing like the other films. There are no chronological jumps--the film begins on New Year's Eve in 1900 and proceeds from there, except for the final sequence when the little Alexander becomes Megalexandros and goes towards the city. Which is a modern city--present-day Athens, in fact--in contrast to the rural, turn-of-the-century world of the rest of the film. When the little Alexander enters the city, he brings all the experience of the century with him. He has gained a total experience of life, sex and death, and over it there is a great question mark. How long will the night last, and when will a new day break?"[7]

Reaction and Interpretation

The film has been well-received at international festivals. Yet, it still does not have a Region 1 release. In a program note, a critic named K.J. notes that "Only a filmmaker with Angelopoulos' daring would attempt to translate his epic vision of Greece to film."[8]

Dougal MacDonald review less favorably: "It is this [technique of long shots and slow pans] which has driven many festival-goers to a state of ecstasy, to assertions that this is imaginative and what filmmaking is really about. There is also a small band (of which I am one which holds that once is imagination, twice is repetition and thrice and after is a mixture of pretentious and boring. One can make such a shot clockwise or counter-clockwise in one dimension. Thereafter, the eschewing of boredom insists either on movement in another dimension or discovery of a new creative toy. By failing to realize this, Angelopoulos has married his film by what he patently intended to be its major creative feature."[9]

Vrasidas Karalis writes that the film reflects the contemporary state of political messianism where people see themselves as leaders who have to carry out a specific historical mission. He compares it to the cult of personality of Jim Jones in Jonestown. Karalis adds that Angelopoulos reflected folk painting and "the spatial arrangement of Byzantine iconography," noting the prevalence of slow movement, off-camera action, and the use of earthy colors.[10]

Accolades

Film Festival Award Recipient Result
Venice Film Festival 1980 Golden Lion for Experimental Film Theo Angelopoulos Won[11]
Venice Film Festival 1980 Award of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Theo Angelopoulos Won
Panhellenic Union of Cinema Critics (PHUCC) Best Film Theo Angelopoulos Won
Thessaloniki International Film Festival Gold Award Theo Angelopoulos Won
Thessaloniki International Film Festival Best Film Theo Angelopoulos Won
Thessaloniki International Film Festival Best Photography Arvanitis Giorgos Won
Thessaloniki International Film Festival Best Scenography Karapiperis Mikes Won
Thessaloniki International Film Festival Best Sound Recording Lazaridis Argyris Won

See also

References

  1. ↑ Karalis, Vrasidas (2012). A History of Greek Cinema. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 190–91. ISBN 1441194479.
  2. ↑ Karalis, Vrasidas (2012). A History of Greek Cinema. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 190–91. ISBN 1441194479.
  3. ↑ "Filmography: Alexander the Great". tainiothiki.gr. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Cochran, Edgar. "Alexander the Great". letterboxd.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  5. ↑ J., K. (1983). Megalexandros, Alexander the Great. Greece: The 2nd European Community Film Festival. p. 33.
  6. ↑ Mitchell, Tony (1980). "Alexander the Great" (Winter). Sight & Sound. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Mitchell, Tony (1980). "Alexander the Great" (Winter). Sight & Sound. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  8. ↑ J., K. (1983). Megalexandros, Alexander the Great. Greece: The 2nd European Community Film Festival. p. 33.
  9. ↑ MacDonald, Dougal. "A kind of parable of our time". Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  10. ↑ Karalis, Vrasidas (2012). A History of Greek Cinema. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 190–91. ISBN 1441194479.
  11. ↑ "Filmography: Alexander the Great". tainiothiki.gr. Retrieved 13 June 2015.

External links

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