Tuesday, March 10, 2009

O Thiasos

aka The Travelling Players

Greece 1975

Details  imdb

Seen 9 March 2009

I was lucky to stumble onto this film. It is not everyday that I manage to see a Greek film especially done in such a way that it recalls the ancient plays at the numerous venues at the foothills of Mount Olympia.

The premise might be simple, concentrating on events during the years after the Second World War when different factions try to gain the upper hand in the governance of the state. This is told through a group of travelling actors, and I was blown away by the minutiae. The camera lovingly records each step, shadow and gust of wind. For those brought up in the era of the three minute MTV sound bite, the more than three hours long, labour of love might be a tad too long, as this is not the usual packaged action packed formulaic film produced by Hollywood. Everything is based on the dialogue and sometimes the actors will face the audience and render a soliloquy.

I was spellbound.

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