Theo Angelopoulos
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:34 pm
After enjoying Landscape in the Mist and Eternity and a Day over a year ago but not delving deeper into Angelopoulos, I’m now working my way chronologically through his filmography after picking up the Artificial Eye collection that contains all of his 13 feature films. I’m only up to his third film, The Travelling Players, so a long way to go, but he’s fast becoming one of my favourite filmmakers. Here’s some minor thoughts on the first three, but obviously feel free to discuss all his films and general thoughts on him.
SCFZ Angelopoulos poll thread - https://scfzforum.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=393
SCFZ Angelopoulos poll results on Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-167/
Reconstruction / Reconstitution (1970)
This is a fine debut. Its premise of a murder being reconstructed by police, and then the circumstances behind the murder having to be pieced together by the audience and those reconstructing it, is an interesting one. There is definitely a feeling that Angelopoulos is still figuring out his style but it’s a very assured film for a debut, both technically and narratively.
Days of ’36 (1972)
My least favourite of the three, which is not to say it was without merit. It was certainly well shot but its political narrative held little interest for me, perhaps due to ignorance on my part of Greek history. I cannot identify anything that was wrong with the film, merely I just could not seem to connect with it very well.
The Travelling Players (1975)
So far, this is my favourite. At almost four hours, it’s long even by Angelopoulos’s standards (though second in runtime still to Alexander the Great) but perhaps the first good thing I can say about it is that I did not feel the length. I was engrossed and held for the entirety. The film encompasses a period of just over a decade from the start of WW2 through to the end of the Greek Civil War and its aftermath. If I felt lost at all, it was due to my limited knowledge about Greek history and though the film helps somewhat with a few monologues to explain events, I would have understood better had I read up more on the Greek Civil War before watching.
Technically, the film is a marvel. The long takes are superbly done. One of Angelopoulos’s great gifts is his ability to know what to show and what not to. Events often take place off camera and are only heard, while the shot remains fixed in place, and this is often more effective than it would be to show the action. And there were some fantastic full circle shots, such as in the magnificent clip below, where the scene plays out over four minutes, and the camera circles the scene completely two times. I’ve never seen a shot like that executed so well.
Travelling Players Clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-2GD7gu8tQ
Then there is the the complex narrative which operates on a number of levels. The rehearsals and performances intertwine with tragic dramas that play out in the troupe’s real lives, some of which mimic Aeschylus’s The Oresteia. All the while historical events play out and impinge upon the group in different way. At times, the film can be incredibly charming and at others shockingly brutal. But this combination of historical events and the dramas of the troupe, with its blurred lines of performance and reality, work really well.
SCFZ Angelopoulos poll thread - https://scfzforum.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=393
SCFZ Angelopoulos poll results on Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-167/
Reconstruction / Reconstitution (1970)
This is a fine debut. Its premise of a murder being reconstructed by police, and then the circumstances behind the murder having to be pieced together by the audience and those reconstructing it, is an interesting one. There is definitely a feeling that Angelopoulos is still figuring out his style but it’s a very assured film for a debut, both technically and narratively.
Days of ’36 (1972)
My least favourite of the three, which is not to say it was without merit. It was certainly well shot but its political narrative held little interest for me, perhaps due to ignorance on my part of Greek history. I cannot identify anything that was wrong with the film, merely I just could not seem to connect with it very well.
The Travelling Players (1975)
So far, this is my favourite. At almost four hours, it’s long even by Angelopoulos’s standards (though second in runtime still to Alexander the Great) but perhaps the first good thing I can say about it is that I did not feel the length. I was engrossed and held for the entirety. The film encompasses a period of just over a decade from the start of WW2 through to the end of the Greek Civil War and its aftermath. If I felt lost at all, it was due to my limited knowledge about Greek history and though the film helps somewhat with a few monologues to explain events, I would have understood better had I read up more on the Greek Civil War before watching.
Technically, the film is a marvel. The long takes are superbly done. One of Angelopoulos’s great gifts is his ability to know what to show and what not to. Events often take place off camera and are only heard, while the shot remains fixed in place, and this is often more effective than it would be to show the action. And there were some fantastic full circle shots, such as in the magnificent clip below, where the scene plays out over four minutes, and the camera circles the scene completely two times. I’ve never seen a shot like that executed so well.
Travelling Players Clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-2GD7gu8tQ
Then there is the the complex narrative which operates on a number of levels. The rehearsals and performances intertwine with tragic dramas that play out in the troupe’s real lives, some of which mimic Aeschylus’s The Oresteia. All the while historical events play out and impinge upon the group in different way. At times, the film can be incredibly charming and at others shockingly brutal. But this combination of historical events and the dramas of the troupe, with its blurred lines of performance and reality, work really well.