evanston_dad
For a movie about actively cultivating a lust for life, "Zorba the Greek" is a real downer.Anthony Quinn famously plays Zorba, a larger-than-life Greek who befriends strait-laced, uptight Alan Bates when the latter comes to claim a family home on the Greek seashore. Bates wants to reinvigorate the local mining business, but in a roundabout plot development decides he first needs timber to refurbish the mine. So he and Zorba concoct this plan to get trees down from the hillside on a sort of zip line, so that they can use them to beef up the mine, which can then be used to revitalize the mining industry. If all of this seems both impractical and needlessly complicated, it is, but don't worry, as this whole story line is treated as an aside and the whole thing fails anyway. The movie instead is much more about the two men and their interactions with local women, namely a sad French lonelyhearts played by Lila Kedrova, and a surly widow played by Irene Papas. She has good reason to be surly, as this particular Greek island is inhabited by men who want to stone her because she doesn't like any of them. That this is ultimately allowed without any of the men involved having to face justice is infuriating and puzzling, and I had to chalk it up to my own lack of understanding of the cultural context of the time and place.The women in this film are treated miserably, and what happens to them is depressing. But even without that, this whole Greek community is depressing, populated by uneducated people who live and act not much better than animals. Zorba consciously sets out to not be like them and make a joyous life out of this not very joyous situation. But one does wonder why he sticks around at all. Alan Bates's character is infuriating for a whole different reason. He's our main protagonist, yet he's so ineffectual as a human being, just standing around gazing upon the horror he witnesses without doing a damn thing about any of it, that he's awfully hard to care about. I guess we're supposed to think he's grown as a person because at the end he's able to dance wildly with Zorba on the beach, but I didn't see much of a change in his character as Bates plays him.I guess this was a pretty well made movie and a much meatier one than I expected it to be, but as I'm thinking back on it I'm realizing that I didn't really enjoy it that much.Winner of three Academy Awards in the year that saw it go up against studio juggernauts "My Fair Lady" and "Mary Poppins": Best Supporting Actress (Kedrova), Best B&W Art Direction, and Best B&W Cinematography. Additionally Michael Cacoyannis was nominated for the trifecta of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay while Anthony Quinn received his fourth career nomination, this time as Best Actor.Grade: B
ElMaruecan82
"Zorba the Greek" is a spellbinding ride driven by the ultimate larger-than-life character. I didn't even know the film "invented" this dancing style that seemed like belonging to Greek traditions since the dawn of ages. But this is the essence of Zorba: something that feels instantly timeless and universal. It is only fitting that the most universal and timeless of all Hollywood actors would play a guy like Zorba.Anthony Quinn isn't just a body but a soul that infuses the story with an inspirational lust for life, curing any possible flaw… because, like life, the film and the story are indeed, flawed. I suspect "Zorba the Greek" will leave most viewers infuriated, and frustrated by the plot loose ends, and it is to the credit of Quinn's extraordinary performance that when the film comes to an end, you just want to put all these flaws in a bowl and crash the whole thing and dance over the shattered pieces. Yes, there is no plot, this is all a fraud, even, good old Alexis Zorbas is one: he pretends to be a good cook, miner, adviser and womanizer but none of his projects ever succeed, yet to call him a loser would be like calling Hercules a weakling.This is man with a spirit as expansive and large as his physique, with a predisposition to embrace people, to grab things, because what other uses can hands and arms are of? His soul is shaped of Dionysian hedonism and contagious idealism, to which the uptight and meek Greek-English writing-blocked Basil (Alan Bates) immediately surrenders. There's something just catching with Zorba's charisma and if you go to a traditional Freak village, a company like Zorba is more than welcome. And Alan Bates plays a difficult role because he's the perfect foil to Zorba's extravaganza and exuberance, but he's not dull and passive either, he's a sponge absorbing much of this lively zest without compromising himself. His strength is to stay true to himself. And this is why Zorba instantly likes him, because he knows he can be true to himself as well. As fragile as their blooming friendship is, at least it is based on sincerity. Now, to the story.Normally, the goodhearted newcomer changes people's lives for the best, and during his journey, he picks up a thing or two. It's called a story, a narrative, a character's arc, and "Zorba the Greek" misleads us to this certitude. But this is too smart a plot for such contrivances, the story embraces the soul of the Greek theater, it is a tragicomedy where tragedy upstages comedy many times. And two outcast women, both prisoners of their troubled pasts, wear the "sad masks": Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova) a French ex-prostitute and local hotel manager who falls for Zorba's charm and the Widow (Irene Papas) who's struck by the stranger's niceness, she who's used to be the center of male menacing and luscious stares, including the love-stricken village idiot.Papas' performance is the antithesis of Kedrova. Kedrova, who won the Oscar for her performance, says too much and becomes a childish creature eager to hear whatever can please her. Papas says nothing but the pain is even deeper, and her soul harder to reach, but that makes her intimate scene with Basil even more powerful, she might be more vulnerable than Hortense after all. But we can't tell what is behind Basil's mind, is he infatuated, curious or does he just follow Zorba's admonition about the "greatest sin" according to God: "If a woman calls a man to her bed and he will NOT go!". Zorba follows his own advice and during a special mission to buy the furniture for the reopening of Basil's mine, he irresponsibly uses his job's money to have a good time. Basically, men's impulses and weaknesses end up killing two women they pretended to "love".In a horrific scene, the Widow is beaten to death by a vengeful mob (after the village idiot committed suicide) and has her throat slit to answer for her "lost honor". Madame Hortense dies of pneumonia (contracted during a rainy improvised wedding) and is posthumously victim of black-clad hysterical women who come to steal her belongings like vultures finishing a corpse. She doesn't even get a funeral and Zorba is powerless. Even Basil couldn't outfight the men who killed the Widow, call him a wimp, coward or lucid, he's just not cut for such a lifestyle. The portrayal of the villagers, men and women can strike as violent and too unbelievably archaic, but I don't think a Greek director could be accused of being biased against his own people.Mihalis Kakogiannis is the director, and there's something so vibrant in his documentary-like style, such a raw energy that it seems to be part of the Greek genes, some parts reminded me of Cassavetes' movie, mostly focused on action, graphically sensual and sexually vocal, the film was ahead of its time, and provocatively unsatisfying as so little has changed in the end. Even when the big mine project fails (whatever it was), this is so relative compared to the more tragic losses that all you can do is laugh at them, because that's what life is about, people try, love, fail, but if in the end, you dance in a beach with your best friend, there might still be hope for the human race.The film missed a Best Score nomination for Mikis Theodorakis, although it invented a dance, Anthony Quinn missed the Oscar, despite the role of a lifetime, the mention of his name alone makes this escalating sirtiki tempo resonate in your mind, Hollywood even believed "My Fair Lady" was the better picture, but all these failures are overshadowed by the film's real success: its inspirational message, its hymn for life captured in that last ending scene and its infectious urge to dance.You know what, Zorba is my kind of film. Whoopa!
