Movie Critique Alexis Zorbas

Antonis Papantoniou 19 November 2009 Anthropology 263g Alexis Zorbas the troops who has teeming argue in him to devour the world. M in on the whole direct attempts conduct been made aiming to portray the abundance of feel at heart a gay on the cinema screen. One of the closely(prenominal) successful 1s would be Zorba the Grecian (1964), directed by Michael Cacoyannis and with Anthony Quinn as the leading role. The plot of the injection originated form the novel Zorbas The classic by Nikos Kazantzakis, that was first published in 1946. The aim portrays the horti socialization of the time in Greece, and more peculiar(prenominal)ally the farming of Crete, the largest Greek is primer coat, where the plot unfolds. Zorbas t he Greek successfully depicts situations of total anger, sadness, lust and joy that conquer humans during their course in spirit. Alexis Zorbas re sues to such(prenominal)(prenominal) feelings define the movie and give the viewers a historic mo xie of admiration and amaze custodyt towards the main f preyure. Zorbas the Greek is a social frolic whose plot foc employments in the fri finaleship of Alexis Zorbas, a Greek middle age man of mysterious knightly, and Basil, a half-English half-Greek writer who has been raised in neat Britain and has all the geekistics of an edgy, middle-class Englishman.The floor begins at the port of Piraeus when Basil is laborious to nonplus on a ship to Crete, where he owns some prop up and an old mine, which he wishes to mend. charm in the port, Basil meets Zorbas. Zorbas with a left over(p) bureau attaches himself to Basil and asks him for a job, listing all his qualifications from past occupations such as miner, cook and santuri player (Cretan musical instrument). Basil is intrigued by the causa of Zorbas and agrees to take him along as his right-hand. Together they arrive at Crete where they dumbfound at an old cut widows house and later(prenominal) on conk in at Basils land and start operating the mine.Throughout the story Zorbas is the person in charge of the mine and has several judgments for improving the mining process with the purpose of making more money. Basil seems to trust Zorbas and supports his ideas. But Zorbas ideas and practical approach prove dim at the oddment this collaboration leads to the demise of the mine and everything they defecate naturaliseed for. The story ends with the separation of Zorbas and Basil with no hard feelings left behind. Zorbas takes his own appearance and Basil returns back to London having his section greatly exploitd through the experiences he sh atomic number 18d with Zorbas in Crete. Zorbas the Greek should be seen in the context of the Greek/Cretan history and culture at the time. Crete had just been gained its independence from the Ottoman recipe and joined Greece (1913). The French, Russians, Italians and British were generally helping Greece gain its independence from the Ottomans. nonwi thstanding Cretans viewed sunrise(prenominal)comer foreigners as outsiders and generally alienated them. set aheadmore the citizens of Crete had a tactile sensation of self- evaluator and a sense of self-instituted law.Throughout the celluloid there ar several lashing proceedss that take place merely there is no involvement of natural law or any form of public officers. Basil, who is considered a foreigner condescension being half-Cretan, at some forecast holds a love matter with a lonely unexampled widow (played by Irene Papas). She is brave, beautiful and, most importantly, independent. The men of the crossroads despise her because according to Zorbas they all want her, scarcely no one discount have her. Such a instruction was inaudible of in a strongly patriarchic parliamentary law such as Crete.When this relation mingled with the foreigner and the widow was revealed, a young local boy who loved the widow and was trying to follow her was so devastated that co mmitted suicide. The male population of the settlement was full of anger and jealousy so it took action. The widow was marked as a traitor and was in public lynched despite the attempts of Zorba to protect her. This incident to the viewer may be seen as meanness and ignorance on the part of the people of the village, however it was quite vulgar at the time to bestow such judgments to the women who didnt follow communal rules. M.Cacoyannis, staged this emergence with realism and intensity that transfers to the viewer the agony of this cleaning woman and the gruesomeness of the actions against her. Fast paced music is played during the scene, and the men of the village quest the widow for several minutes in a manner that potty be comp atomic number 18d to the way umpteen cats chase a mouse. The only voices that are heard are the agonizing small shouts of the widow and the fast paced footsteps of her pursuers. The faces of the villagers are roughly without emotion and when th ey finally trap the woman there is no hesitation in their actions.The only man who tries to oppose the intended strike is Zorbas. Through his determination he manages to stop momentarily the flow of villagers wild actions. Nevertheless he ultimately failed as the widow was murdered in a cold-blooded manner right in front of her lovers eyes. This event depicts an aspect of Zorbas character, the bravery to swim against the flow. contrasted his friend and employer, Basil, he didnt cower behind the crowd in fear of the potential reactions to his actions. Instead he stepped up against the mob and defended the justice he believed in.Nonetheless he did not mourn the deceased, nor did he mention the event again. In the film M. Cacoyannis touches the subject of terminal with a rather outlawed manner for the time. The subject of death is brought up in two do within the film. The first is with the death of Basils lover, the widow, and the second is with the death of Zorbas lover. When Z orbas and Basil first arrived at Crete they retained at Madame Hortenses hotel. Madame Hortense was a French woman who arrived at Crete with the French military later on the end of the Othman rule.Within the film she claimed to be the lover not only of the French Admiral but also of the Russian, Italian and English Admirals. The fact that she was French and had multiple lovers was unheard of at Crete, and as a result she was the mocked and alienated by the village. aft(prenominal) the departure of the European forces Madame Hortense was left alone back in Crete. In enunciate to survive she created her own version of the famous French hotel, Hotel luxuriant, which was nothing more than a run-down house. At that hotel Zorbas decided to stay after arriving to Crete and soon he established intimate relationships with his hostess.Madame Hortense as presented from M. Cacoyannis arouses electronegative feelings to the viewers sometimes almost reaching disgust. She is viewed as a item of the past always reminiscing about her Admirals and considering herself charming and irresistible. Zorbas quickly recognizes that aspect of her character yet he nourishs their relationship claiming It is a shame to every man if a woman sleeps alone at night. Through a misunderstanding Madame Hortense misinterprets that Zorbas wants to marry her while he had no intention to.Zorbas was not very affectionate about Madame Hortense, since he was badmouthing her when she wasnt around, and cheating on her with other women. However when he learned about the misunderstanding he decided to marry her for the sole purpose of making her happy. Shortly after the marriage Madame Hortense became ill and died. The village people celebrated this event by stripping her house from all her possessions. The older women of the village are presented almost as vultures waiting for the pending death of the victim.Just about she was to die they step on it in and started stealing all the valuable objects from the hotel. Zorbas disgusted by this look he tried to stop it as long Hortnese was still alive, and until the end he stayed by her side acting as a love husband and keeping her company at the last moments of her deportment. Through this event the viewer understands an unknown until then aspect of Zorbas character, his immense kindness. With no unmixed self-profit he selflessly tried to preserve Madame Hortense happiness by agreeing to marry her and staying with her until the end.However after the death of Madame Hortense he refuses neither to mourn her nor to take any actions to protect her possessions or her reputation. He steps out of the room allow the villagers take her possessions and he does not bother with funeral arrangements or other phantasmal rituals. His views on death were openly opposing the ones of Orthodox religion and church building that believed in Hell, Paradise and Judgment day, he simply stated either people have one thing in common, in the end they all become food for worms. Along with the views on death, in the film M. Cacoyannis somehow mocks the Greek Religion and church. Before discussing the matter of Religion within the film, one must understand the importance of the church building for Greece at the time. As mentioned in the first place Greece was released by the Othman rule and greatly influence by the major(ip) European forces. Within this chaos of different cultures interfering with the Greek culture, the Greeks struggled to maintain their identity and preserve their culture on which they take great superciliousness in.Many actions were made such as an attempt of purification of the Greek phrase through the extraction of all the foreign words and creating a new dialect named Katharevousa which is rarely used in the film. Along with other actions a great power and land was given to the Greek Orthodox church, living the Christian religion which was much different than the Muslim religion, the one that Othmans belie ved in and thus enhancing the ethnic identity of the Greek population. In the film the Church appears as the owner of a big mountain that Zorbas wanted to proceeding in order to support the forest needs of the mine.When he suggests his idea to Basil he is shocked and refuses by introduceing that he go forth be subjected to the accusation of theft, when trying to convince him Zorbas states that This land belongs to the church, the church belongs to idol and God belongs to everyone thus everybody can take their share of the land. While arguing with Basil, Zorbas maintains a mocking tone when referring to the church and God, however in the end he agrees to cut a deal with them. The first get together of the Churchs monks and Zorbas happened by chance in the mountain forest.Knowing their gullibility Zorbas deceives them into initially believing that he is a devil, and then in secretiveness he replaced some water with wine. The priests believed the apparent miracle, that was incr edibly similar to the one Jesus performed, and so viewed Zorbas as a blessed person. They drank the wine with him until they were in all drunk and so Zorbas gained their friendship and his desired access to the mountain trees. Further appearance of the priests in the movie was almost in a quaint manner either being a target of Zorbas mockery, or cowards raceway away from some falling trees while praying to God.This presentation of the Church by M. Cacoyannis is quite contrevential to societys image of the church at the time. The priests who were considered politic and virtuous figures within the society were portrayed as gullible drunks who were slow manipulated, and thus within the film the powerful image of the church was all in all crumbled. One of the most dominant themes in the film is the contrast between the Apollonian and Dionysian way of vitality. Basil representing the Apollonian way of life is the personification of order and rationality.On the other hand Zorbas rep resents the Dionysian way of life with an ecstatic fondness and spontaneity in his actions, which provide him an undying will to live. Zorbas philosophy of life is constantly depicted in the movie. When he first meets with Basil and convinces him to work together he sets only one condition that while he dances and plays the santury(a traditional Greek music instrument) he is on his own, he is free. M. Cacoyannis portrays Zorbas character through the frantic traditional Greek dance that Zorbas starts when his emotions are overflowing.The clenched fist dance happens when Basil approves the plan of Zorbas in order to improve the mine. Zorbas fill up with happiness unties his tie, unbuttons his shirt gets on an empty table and starts dancing. When his feet start to move traditional Greek music starts playing, in the beginning slow passed and as times goes by it becomes incredibly fast as Zorbas reaches his dance climax. The tv camera shifts very aughtously from his face to his feet a nd again to his face and transfers the feeling of fierceness to the viewer. The dance goes on until Basil confused stops him and Zorbas collapses from exhaustion.Basils character as acted by Alan Bates is presented as a weak bookworm who has no great aspirations for his in store(predicate). He rarely laughs and shows no desire to grab the opportunities life offers him. Throughout the film the contrast of their characters is constantly being depicted. When Zorbas describes to Basil his plans for life and his dreams of becoming rich along with him, Basil is greatly intimidated and cuts of Zorbas by saying, arent you going a bit to fast? Zorbas answer to this research is well in line with his Dionysian way of life.He states with great vigor that Im to old to be going slow, people say that as a person ages his will to live goes away, that he opens the portal and welcomes death. Thats a big pack of lies, I have enough fight in me to devour the whole world. As expected, Zorbas influe nce on Basils character is becoming rather open throughout the film. From a passive manner of life Basil starts desiring things from life and after several prompts from Zorbas he decides to take the first step in creating a relationship between him and the village widow.As the story unfolds Basil starts laughing more and more and attempts to dance in the same manner as Zorbas does. His timid way of dancing in the beginning is accompanied by slow Greek music that is constantly interrupted by the missteps in Basils dance. The complete transformation of Basils way of life is viewed at the final scene of the movie, where after the disaster of Zorbas plans, instead of being fantastic he decides the next course of his life, laughs, and dances magnificently along with Zorbas by the Aegean Sea. The final theme of the movie is about the ability of humans to superintend with failure.The film is full of failures failure of Basil to protect his lover, failure of Zorbas to revive the mine, a nd finally the greater failure, the disaster of the project to bring down lumber from the mountain. This project was financed by the last money of Basil and designed by Zorbas. The trees were supposed to be transferred from the top of the mountain to the bottom with the help of a large construction. At the first demonstration of the project, the construction is destroyed to the point that nothing was standing anymore.The crowd that was observing quickly dispersed and all that was left in the scenery was Zorbas and Basil watching their failed investment. Nevertheless they both sit down by the already prepared celebration fire, eat their lunch without frustration or negative emotions. They both discuss their future plans as nothing has happened. They decide to separate and they have one of the most affectionate conversations that are present within the film. Finally they both get up and dance by the ruins of their failure hopping for the best and aiming for a infract future.The films setting, Crete, is realistically depicted throughout the film and the Cretan culture is represented very accurately. The plot unfolds in a remote village of Crete close to the major city of Chania. M. Cacoyannis tries to express the Greek culture not through Zorbas but through the people in the village that have secondary role to the plot. The clothing of the male citizens was usually minatory representing their masculinity, and their frontal bone was covered with a traditional black cloth, which made them look even more aggressive.The majority of the male citizens carried daggers, a weapon that until today is considered, by the Cretans, to represent innocence and bravery. The murder of the young widow is done with the use of a dagger, since it was considered an act that would reinstate the villages honor. In the near of the film no young woman except Irini Papas is presented, this may be the way of M. Cacoyannis to emphasize the power of the male population in the village of C rete. Nevertheless many elder women are seen through the course of the movie, all of them presented with ugly and selfish personalities.All the Greek women on the film wear black clothes that cover most of their body. This clothing in the Greek culture represents the grief of a widowed woman, and in the past widows in Greece where oblige to dress like this for the rest of their life. On the other hand men did not have to change their lifestyle in any way after the death of their wife, this again signifies the difference of power between men and women in the Cretan society. The events that are described in the film as mentioned before are a few decades after the liberty of Crete from the Othman domination. Since then many events have transformed Cretes culture.With Greeces entry to the European union at 1981, western influences started stirring Cretes culture. The clothes, which are commonly wasted in the film, have now become almost extinct and are only used occasionally in tradi tional events such as marriages. Tourism, which was considered a rare occasion among the villagers, has flourished in Greece since the 1970s. Ironically Zorbas the Greek and its success in the movie theaters was a great contributor to this radical ontogeny in tourism. Today tourism is one of the most profiting industries in Greece, and no part of the country has remained unaffected, and Crete is no exception.The standings in society between women and men have become today almost equal, and the action of alienating foreigners has completely disappeared. However some things have not yet changed through the years. Cretans have still the same sense of honor and pride, and especially in the villages native Cretans pass to institute their self-instituted justice. Daggers run to be a method of solving disputes, and feuds between families can continue for many generations, and occasionally have a morbid conclusion. The influence of the Orthodox Church on the community has also been decre ased in the past decades.The Church is still extremely wealthy, however parts of the land have been returned to the Greek State, and Greek communities have become much less ghostlike over the years. It can be said that the community and culture that Zorbas lived in has been almost completely transformed and become unrecognizable at the twenty-first century. It is crucial to mention however that throughout the film Zorbas shows no attachments to that specific culture or any culture. He is presented as a man with his own culture that has lots of experience from traveling the world and can adapt himself in any situation that occurs.That is one of the factors that make him a diachronic character. Zorbas the Greek is a film that depicts the Greek culture in its transition from being influence by the East to being influenced by the West. The film itself was a turning point for Greece since it was one of the big factors that attracted tourism to the country. Nevertheless the differences i n cultures and the audience of the movie have not changed its diachronic messages that are represented through the friendship and characters of Zorbas and Basil.The need to combine the Apollonian and Dionysian state of mind, to laugh at the misfortunes and failures that emerge in life and fight through them with vigor and the ability to dream. These are just some of the philosophies that are promoted through the film, and perhaps the 21st century is when they are needed the most. maybe along with some madness because as Zorbas mentioned at the final scene of the movie A man needs some madness, or else he dare not to cut the rope and be free. - 1 . Crete History A description of history of Crete, Greece . 1. Web. 19 Nov 2009. . 2 . The Greek Language Controversy . Focus on Language (2000) 1. Web. 19 Nov 2009. 3 . Kreis, Steven. Nietzsche, Dionysos and Apollo. (2000) 1. Web. 19 Nov 2009. . 4 . Lanz, Barbara. Mourning Dress . Social Expression of grief by Barbara Lanz. (1983 ) 1. Web. 19 Nov 2009. . 5 . One dead, many hurt in Cretan family feud Dress . Ekathimerini (2009) 1. Web. 19 Nov 2009. .