"An Orgy of Missed Opportunities"

THE TRAVELLING PLAYERS

Original title: Ο Θίασος (O Thiasos)
Year: 1975
Country: Greece
Language: Greek, German, English
Number: 604
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos
Starring: Eva Kotamanidou, Aliki Georgouli, Vangelis Kazan, Stratos Pahis
Cannes: FIPRESCI Prize

Theodoros Angelopoulos' The Travelling Players tells the story about a bunch of theater performers during the period from 1939 to 1952 in which such big events as the German invasion, the partisan wars, and the Greek civil war between the US backed royalist forces against the communists. Although the players are in charge of all their plays, they cannot change the course of history, they themselves are just the audience. The Travelling Players is an interesting piece that covers most of the war period pretty well in sense of details delivered to us by both imagery and people talking directly into the camera, with all their stories about a constantly dynamic Greece.

But sadly enough, this film didn't appeal to me at all. It's too long, nearly four hours, and it doesn't actually cover the Civil War at all, which is very disappointing. And there's too many characters that we are suppose to recognize, considering there's few close-ups, thanks to all the long shots. Don't misunderstand me, I love long takes, but Angelopoulos could have made it more dynamic like Miklós Jancsó's war dramas. Overall, I kind of liked it, but it was simply too long and too theatrical. It is an orgy of missed opportunities. But I liked its political and cultural imagery enough to give this movie a marginal thumbs up.

Grade: C+

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