THE WEEPING MEADOW
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: The first of a trilogy of films by Greek
director Theo Angelopoulos tells the story of
thirty tragic years in a woman's life. Rating:
low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
This film is the first film of Greek director Theo Angelopoulos's trilogy of films simply called TRILOGY. TRILOGY: THE WEEPING MEADOW covers the life of one woman from 1919 to the late 1940s. During this period the Greeks flee from Odessa, are involved conflicts between the government and trade unions, enter World War II, and have a civil war between fascists and communists. The film runs almost three hours in length and uses an appreciable chunk of Greek history as a backdrop.
Eleni (Alexandra Aidini) is adopted as a refugee from Odessa when the revolution comes. In the family that adopts her there is a boy her own age. As the boy grows up he shows musical talent and Eleni is attracted to him, in spite of having been raised essentially as his sister. But when Eleni comes of age, it is the father of the family, Spyros (Vasilis Kolovos), who arranges to marry her. On the wedding day Eleni runs away from the ceremony where she would marry the father and runs off with the son. The two become fugitives from Spyros.
Angelopoulos's trademark are his very long takes, perhaps no shorter than those by Tarkovsky or Amos Gitai, but considerably more detailed and interesting. He will pan across showing an entire Greek village with its work and other activities. In another scene he gives us a visual essay of a Greek funeral on water. In this film water is always associated with pain and death. Since the usual connection is with the life cycle he may be saying that pain and death are just natural functions of life. They certainly are for Eleni. Angelopoulos says he wants his film to be a study of the human condition running with deep emotions and sincerity. Certainly the predominant emotion we see in this film is pain. It is a moving document, but not likely to get a wide release in the United States, where killing and dying are endemic in films but pain is a rarity.
I believe the next two parts of the trilogy will continue the story of Eleni's life, though it is hard to believe with all the experience and anguish in this film that she still has two-thirds of her story to go.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
========== X-RAMR-ID: 39018 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1338825 X-RT-TitleID: 10004764 X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 X-RT-RatingText: 7/10
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