THE WEEPING MEADOW
A film by Theo
Angelopoulos
Greece / 2004/ 162 minutes /
6th July/ 5.45 pm / Perks Mini Theater / Coimbatore
6th July/ 5.45 pm / Perks Mini Theater / Coimbatore
http://konangalfilmsociety.blogspot.in/
Master Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos wrote and directed
this downbeat look at his nation's often blighted history, as seen through the
eyes of an unfortunate young couple. In 1919, a band of Greek refugees who had
found a home in Odessa are forced to return to their homeland following the
Russian Revolution, and they settle in Thessaloniki, a forbidding riverside
village where few wish to dwell.
Eleni is a youngster who arrives in
Thessaloniki and is taken in by Spyros (Vassilis Kolovos), one of the village
leaders. While Eleni is raised as a member of the family alongside Alexis,
Spyros' son, the two find themselves attracted to one another as they grow
older, and they pledge to someday marry.
By the age of 16, Eleni (Alexandra
Aidini) becomes pregnant by Alexis (Nikos Poursadinis), and she gives birth to
twins, which Spyros puts up for adoption. However, after the death of his wife,
Spyros declares that he will make the now-grown Eleni his new spouse. Eleni and
Alexis see no choice but to run away together, and they join up with a band of
traveling musicians led by Nikos (Giorgos Armenis).
Angelopoulos draws on all manner of Greek myths surrounding
wandering, passion and exile in The Weeping Meadow - in interviews he has
described his female protagonist as 'the Eleni of myth, the Eleni of all the
myths who is pursued... but who also pursues absolute love'. Favouring his
trademark lengthy travelling shots, Angelopoulos and cinematographer Andreas
Sinanos conjure up a range of mesmerising images created without reliance on
digital effects.
Water is a crucial motif in The Weeping Meadow, where history
itself resembles a force of nature, shattering societies and arbitrarily
sweeping away the lives of human beings.
Though its story incorporates themes from myth, epic and
tragedy, the plot is among the least important elements of "The Weeping
Meadow." Instead, the film is a stately procession of enigmatic, starkly
beautiful images that seem to gesture toward a mythological world outside the
movie itself.e. The haunting score by Eleni Karaindrou (much of it performed by
a group of traveling musicians that figures largely in the story) is a far more
important sonic element than the sparse patches of dialogue and the long
stretches of silence that separate them.
For those willing to enter into its
grave, melancholic rhythms, "The Weeping Meadow" is a beautiful and
devastating meditation on war, history and loss. (Source: Internet)
THEO ANGELOPAULOS
Theodoros Angelopoulos (born 27 April 1935) is a celebrated
Greek film director.
Angelopoulos studied law in Athens, but after his military
service went to Paris to attend the Sorbonne. He soon dropped out to study film
at the IDHEC (Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies) before returning
to Greece. There, he worked as a journalist and film critic.
Angelopoulos began making films after the 1967 coup that
began the Greek military dictatorship known as the Regime of the Colonels. He
made his first short film in 1968 and in the 1970s began making a series of
political feature films about modern Greece: Days of '36 (Meres Tou 36, 1972),
The Travelling Players (O Thiassos, 1975) and The Hunters (I Kynighoi, 1977).
He quickly established a characteristic style, marked by slow, episodic and
ambiguous narrative structures and long takes (The Travelling Players, for
example, consists of only 80 shots in about four hours of film). These takes
often include meticulously choreographed and complicated scenes involving many
actors.
Angelopoulos has made 19 films so far. His regular
collaborators include the cinematographer Giorgos Arvanitis, and the composer
Eleni Karaindrou. At the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, during which Angelopoulos
received the coveted Palme d'Or for Eternity and a Day, the filmmaker remarked,
"I belong to a generation slowly coming to the end of our careers".
Nevertheless, despite his seemingly resigned statement, he continued to work
diligently.
Theo Angelopoulos died at the age of 76 in a road accident
while shooting his latest film in Greece.
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