Eleftherios Venizelos

Pantelis Voulgaris’s excellent historical epic chronicles one of the most important and eminent figures in 20th-century Greek history: the progressive yet expansionist politician Eleftherios Venizelos, one of the fathers of modern Greece. A Cretan who came to prominence in the struggle to unite Crete with Greece, Venizelos was several times elected Greece’s prime minister, presided over the expansion of the country’s national borders, and ultimately had a major schism with Greece’s pro-German monarchy over the issue of Greece’s entry into World War I. The film covers two crucial decades of history. Actor Minas Christidis gives an authoritative performance in the lead. The cinematography is by Giorgos Arvanitis, known for his work with Angelopoulos. “It's an episodic story, expensively mounted and finely shot, and intercut with contemporary political revues which summarise, Brecht-style, the unfolding events. Voulgaris lays winning emphasis on the human dimension” (Time Out). “This sweeping film has the characteristic Voulgaris touch: instead of bombast and rhetoric, he provides precision, simplicity, understatement and clarity” (Cinematheque Ontario). Colour, 35mm, in Greek with English subtitles. 157 mins.