ANAPARASTASI / RECONSTRUCTION (1970)

Greek filmmaker Theodoros Angelopoulos made a strong debut reconstructing (as the title would have it) a domestic case of murder set in a fast declining mountain town, something between contemporary Greek Tragedy and Neo-Realistic melodrama.  Angelopoulos himself noted how closely his plot follows Visconti’s OSSESSIONE/’43 (itself an unofficial version of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE/’46), though without the twist of justice that doubles back to catch a killer.  Here, the trick is in the telling, with a non-linear narrative from different points of view:  returning husband; unfaithful wife & her suspicious brother; guilty lover; authorities; even documentary film crew as the case attracts national attention.  And then there’s the awful judgemental gaze & fury of the townspeople.  The re-ordered scenes cause some confusion sans scorecard, but Angelopoulos seems to have planned the whole film from its powerful static/long-take final shot, captured from outside the house (of Atreus?) so that we infer the murder happening within.  Powerful stuff.  But what really makes this one stand out is the drab living conditions and end of the line atmosphere of a town in the foothills hanging on to a hardscrabble life that can no longer support it.  Phenomenally well caught by lenser Giorgos Arvanitis, it makes ZORBA THE GREEK look like a tourist trap.*  

LINK/DOUBLE-BILL: Inevitably, ZORBA THE GREEK/’64.  Baring in mind it’s a period piece helps it play at its considerable best.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/03/zorba-greek-1964.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Never thought of it before, but ZORBA's story actually is a tourist trap, with Alan Bates the tourist who gets trapped.