It’s a Long Road

World-premiered at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival, Pantelis Voulgaris’s It's a Long Road is an elegant, affecting three-part film, rendered in the director’s assured, authoritative style, and dealing with three people at crucial turning p

oints in their lives. Part one, “A Silver Coin on the Lips,” is the moving tale of an archaeologist whose discovery of ancient Macedonian remains forces him to confront a painful personal tragedy. In part two, “The Last of the Lesser Whites,” a group of ornithologists follows a rare species of goose to a bird sanctuary in Thrace, where the game warden must make a momentous decision. In part three, “Vietnam,” a factory owner goes on a wild, destructive bender after he is abandoned by wife and children. The film is beautifully shot by Giorgos Frentzos, and powerfully, lyrically rendered. “[The] intimate portraits of three tormented characters are filled with compassion and affection. As always with Voulgaris, technical credits are impeccable in every department” (David Stratton, Variety). Colour, 35mm, in Greek with English subtitles. 118 mins.