Where to begin.
The acting of the main three roles is extraordinary. Kostas Kazakos as Agamemnon gives us a terrifying look into the mind of the leader at the head of the achaean host. A man who becomes broken and distorted when he hears the bloody demand of the goddess Artemis, whom he insulted. And as powerfull as he is he is shown here to be as much influenced by the army as the army is by him. "The thousand-headed monster that I govern" as he says in one scene. He knows that if the army finds out the knowledge that he holds, he will not be able to stop them from rebelling or sacrifising his daughter themselves. In the first half of the film he is plagued by indecision. Even fear and his eyes gradually change in the course of the film to a kind of drunkness as he accepts the nature of the barbaric thing he must do. He is a brutal man. A man of great anger and authority. But he is also shown as broken and weak. Clinging to control which is slipping from his hands. We see in him a father and a leader of men. And those two aspects of him intermingle on his face in a kind of perverted dance that marks him as one who is most dangerous. It is a thing to behold.
Irene Papas, who plays Clytemnestra (Agamemnon's wife) is just as marvelous. With her movement and voice she conveys her regal status well but as she realizes the fate of her daughter she becomes a ghost of herself. She transitions from a queen to a broken mother - screaming and crying. Delivering heart wrenching dialoge which somehow convinces you that this is not acting but true grief and anger. And at the end she becoms a quiet fury. A woman possesed with unspeakable sadness and desire for vengance. Her ravings are as potent as any ever seen on the big screen.
Then there is Tatiana Papamoschou who plays Iphigenia. Her youth, beauty and innocence mixed with her unusual widom makes her murder so much more barbaric. So much more unforgivable. And her dialogue with her father and mother is gut wrenching. As she transitions from happiness to doubt. From fear to anger and finally to trembling acceptance. "Enough with the tears. Start singing to wake up the winds."
I also adore the silence in this film. Many scenes are made even more potent by the lack of music. Amplifying the feeling of waiting, of longing for something. Of a place where there is no wind and no birds. There is kind of tiredness in the air. It feels as if the barren landscape is already dead and a death of a young girl is as fitting to it as the waves are to the sea.
There are many shots of great crowd of soldiers which are conveyed really good. Their bodies marked with sweat but tired - longing for the wind which will send them to war. You see the crowd of soldiers in this film as its own entity. A moving mass which has a voice of its own. You can almost imagine them in battle against the trojans. Like a mass of bulls - full of energy, unlike their state in this film. Tired and bored, slowly becoming unruly and dangerous to those who command them.
Camera movement is utilised quite good as well. Lingering when there is tension or stagnation and other times movin - sometimes steady as the figure she covers or unruly and sharp as the action beetwen charaters happens.
One thing that I didn't like is the clothing. We know from archeological evidence (frescoes, pottery) that greeks in the late bronze age wore tunics, belts, cloaks etc. Nobiliy preferred linen, but the lower classes wore cloths made from wool or goat hair. In this film the clothing is all over the place and the helmets and armor look funny. But still I like this film very much.
The acting of the main three roles is extraordinary. Kostas Kazakos as Agamemnon gives us a terrifying look into the mind of the leader at the head of the achaean host. A man who becomes broken and distorted when he hears the bloody demand of the goddess Artemis, whom he insulted. And as powerfull as he is he is shown here to be as much influenced by the army as the army is by him. "The thousand-headed monster that I govern" as he says in one scene. He knows that if the army finds out the knowledge that he holds, he will not be able to stop them from rebelling or sacrifising his daughter themselves. In the first half of the film he is plagued by indecision. Even fear and his eyes gradually change in the course of the film to a kind of drunkness as he accepts the nature of the barbaric thing he must do. He is a brutal man. A man of great anger and authority. But he is also shown as broken and weak. Clinging to control which is slipping from his hands. We see in him a father and a leader of men. And those two aspects of him intermingle on his face in a kind of perverted dance that marks him as one who is most dangerous. It is a thing to behold.
Irene Papas, who plays Clytemnestra (Agamemnon's wife) is just as marvelous. With her movement and voice she conveys her regal status well but as she realizes the fate of her daughter she becomes a ghost of herself. She transitions from a queen to a broken mother - screaming and crying. Delivering heart wrenching dialoge which somehow convinces you that this is not acting but true grief and anger. And at the end she becoms a quiet fury. A woman possesed with unspeakable sadness and desire for vengance. Her ravings are as potent as any ever seen on the big screen.
Then there is Tatiana Papamoschou who plays Iphigenia. Her youth, beauty and innocence mixed with her unusual widom makes her murder so much more barbaric. So much more unforgivable. And her dialogue with her father and mother is gut wrenching. As she transitions from happiness to doubt. From fear to anger and finally to trembling acceptance. "Enough with the tears. Start singing to wake up the winds."
I also adore the silence in this film. Many scenes are made even more potent by the lack of music. Amplifying the feeling of waiting, of longing for something. Of a place where there is no wind and no birds. There is kind of tiredness in the air. It feels as if the barren landscape is already dead and a death of a young girl is as fitting to it as the waves are to the sea.
There are many shots of great crowd of soldiers which are conveyed really good. Their bodies marked with sweat but tired - longing for the wind which will send them to war. You see the crowd of soldiers in this film as its own entity. A moving mass which has a voice of its own. You can almost imagine them in battle against the trojans. Like a mass of bulls - full of energy, unlike their state in this film. Tired and bored, slowly becoming unruly and dangerous to those who command them.
Camera movement is utilised quite good as well. Lingering when there is tension or stagnation and other times movin - sometimes steady as the figure she covers or unruly and sharp as the action beetwen charaters happens.
One thing that I didn't like is the clothing. We know from archeological evidence (frescoes, pottery) that greeks in the late bronze age wore tunics, belts, cloaks etc. Nobiliy preferred linen, but the lower classes wore cloths made from wool or goat hair. In this film the clothing is all over the place and the helmets and armor look funny. But still I like this film very much.