Writer | Filmmaker | Photographer
History is as important to him as ancient Greek literature, poetry, and mythology. The conflict between man and destiny is the main theme of his works.
There is a hidden philosophy or a layer of meaning in Angelopoulos’ films that we see in most of his works. His cinema is a thoughtful and philosophical cinema that raises fundamental questions about the world today and modern man. A filmmaker who removes boundaries, he poetically removes the boundaries between nations, the boundaries between the past and the present, the boundaries between travel and stagnation, and takes us deeper into his inner self. He works with images and he does with his own space
What is most noticeable is stillness and stillness. In his cinema, the slow rhythm and static nature of the story and characters are special components. Sometimes long shots and the slow and rhythmic movement he makes with the camera.
“We took refuge in cinema from this life” A sentence I read one day quoting from Angelopoulos and it always stayed in my mind. I think Angelopoulos’ cinema is so respectable, valuable and debatable that we can only talk about Greek cinema. style owner filmmaker with a special and personal expression, which the existence of certain components in his works distinguishes his cinema from other filmmakers
Features and characteristics are somewhat common in Angelopoulos films, some of which I will review here. I have to say at the outset that his films are indefinable, in fact, his story cannot be told to anyone, and the proverb that says who heard when was like seeing is exactly what is seen here.
Perhaps it can be said that the border between myth and history is also removed in his cinema. Myths, especially Greek myths, are significantly present in Angelopoulos’ view. One of his adventures is to take us on a journey into Greek mythology.
He introduces myths into human life today and therefore the concepts of his cinema are as old as human imagination. For example, Ulysses Stare (1995) refers to the character of Homer (Odyssey), the protagonist of Homer. An intelligent and wise man who was deported by fate as a displaced person.
Eleni Karaindrou has worked with music in Angelopoulos Cinema, and most of her films are known for their distorting music. Even if we hear music close to it somewhere, we will subconsciously tell ourselves how similar it is to Angelopoulos movies. I do not think that those who have seen Eternity and one day, Gaze of Ulysses, have forgotten their unique music. Certainly, music in Angelopoulos’ cinema carries a part of the meaning burden, as if it is a part of the characters of the films and sits completely on the space and form of its cinema. Maybe we should go here and listen to some of his music. In one sentence, I must say that without the music of Eleni Karaindro, it is impossible to imagine the deep feeling of this film.
The characters often travel or return home from a place of exile, such as the wandering little brother and sister in “Landscape in the mist” (1988) on a bitter journey to find their imaginary father. In Eternity and a day we travel with the mental journey of the main character who is dying.
In fact, there is a place in his cinema that can be the point of a journey. Either this journey is loneliness and bewilderment or an irreversible journey whose example we see in eternity and one day.
Angelopoulos’ references to the ancient and classical Greek cultural heritage are not limited to literary forms. Like many of the design and visual artists before him, Greek sculpture has a very special place in shaping the aesthetics of Angelopoulos.
A helicopter lifts a fragment of a giant sculpture in the May 1988 film; A cargo ship carries a fragmented statue of Lenin in the gaze of Ulysses: and in Eternity and a Day (1998), a small statue of the Greek goddess forms the basis of a lampshade.
Poetry, in my opinion, has a special feature, and that is, it separates you from its physical body for a moment, and perhaps better to say, it lifts its foot off the ground for a moment and puts it back in its place. In my opinion, this moment is a poetic moment. When you hear a good poem, you become unconscious for a moment. Angelopoulos’ cinema is exactly that moment. But the poem he says is a poem in the medium of image. He is well aware that his ancestors were prominent and important poets and epic poets in Greece, and he used this opportunity in some way to make his films poetic. Sometimes we seem to see a poem from Greek myths and epics, and this is the magic that cinema gives us with the possibility of images. To see a poem and touch it with an image and for a moment our feet fall off the ground. that mean Angelopoulos was the poet of images.
Angelopoulos cinema has its own unique color. In such a way that if we see a photo or image with that color and glaze somewhere, we will quickly remember his cinema. Visual communication and the creation of pristine and spectacular spaces are among the processes that engage the audience. Maybe I will never forget the cold and closed atmosphere and the atmosphere that happened with the men and women dancing tango near the sea. Or I will never forget the unique atmosphere in which a fragmented statue of Lenin reaches the shore from the other side of the sea and people come running from afar in the stare of Ulysses. And this is the effect that his cinema has on us with color, atmosphere and visual connection. I had read a good sentence from the book Angelopoulos Paulos written by Koutsourakis and translated by Vahid Roozbehani, which reads: The breath of the film fits the spectators’ lungs. And this is really the best description that can be given here for Angelopoulos cinema.
I think the name is the showcase of any film, and perhaps Angelopoulos’ showcase is more interesting to me than any filmmaker. Choosing effective names and sitting perfectly on the space of the movies is what he does best. Now let’s look at the names he has chosen to introduce his films
This choice of names requires an innate talent that engages me as an audience without perhaps having seen the film, and is also a metaphor for the poem he wants to compose.
For example, Landscape in the mist, the film is full of pure and magical moments.
People staring at the sky like dry statues when it was snowing on the street. Traveling theatrical actors heading to the sea following the slump in communist-dominated Greek-dominated theatrical and political theaters at the height of unemployment and helplessness as their stage costumes are auctioned off on the beach and blown up. Or the people who, during the Greek occupation of war, move away from their homeland like refugees and go nowhere by boat.