Alexis Sorbas (film)

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Movie
German title Alexis Sorbas
Original title Zorba the Greek
Country of production United States , United Kingdom , Greece
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 142 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Michael Cacoyannis
script Michael Cacoyannis (based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis )
production Michael Cacoyannis
Anthony Quinn
music Mikis Theodorakis
camera Walter Lassally
cut Michael Cacoyannis
occupation
Antony Quinn in the role of Alexis Sorbas

Alexis Sorbas (original title: Zorba the Greek ) is the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis . The film, one of the most successful in cinema history, was made in 1964 under the direction of Michael Cacoyannis with Anthony Quinn in the title role. It was released in German cinemas on March 26, 1965 and also broke numerous box office records here.

action

The timing of the movie's plot is indefinite, it could be the 1920s or 1930s. The writer Basil travels to Crete , where he wants to restart an abandoned lignite mine belonging to his family. In the port of Piraeus he met the Macedonian Alexis Sorbas, a former soldier and miner whom he spontaneously hired as a foreman. In the remote village on Crete, the two initially lodge in the guesthouse of Madame Hortense, an aging courtesan who dreams of her previous relationships with high-ranking foreign officers. Sorbas hooks up with her. He shows a mixture of pity and contempt for her. While visiting a kafenion , Sorbas and Basil first encounter the young widow Surmelina, who is coveted by almost all men in the village. Especially Pavlis, the son of the village mayor Mavrandonis, is unhappily in love with her. Sorbas protects them from attacks by men. He tries to Basil with the young woman pair off , but this dare not shy to make the first move.

Meanwhile, the old mine is proving to be ailing and is partially collapsing. Sorbas had the idea of using tree trunks from the monastery forest above the mine as finishing wood. He stages a supposed miracle, negotiates with the monks and plans to build a cable car to transport the trunks to the mine. Finally he travels to the city to get the necessary building materials with Basil's last money, but celebrates almost everything with the buxom barmaid Lola. Meanwhile, Basil assures Madame Hortense, who is waiting longingly, that Sorbas will marry her on his return, which he has no plans to do. In addition, he finally dares to visit Surmelina and spends a night with her. Young Pavlis, rejected several times, commits suicide when he learns of this.

The next morning Sorbas returns from the city and agrees to forgive Basil, angry about his antics. Meanwhile, the villagers, who blame Surmelina for Pavlis' death, try to stone the widow in the forecourt of the church . To save them, Sorbas fights with a leader of the mob and defeats him. Eventually, however, Pavlis' father Mavrandonis Surmelina cuts his throat. Madame Hortense, who recently married Sorbas in a self-staged ceremony to make her happy, also dies after a short illness. Since she has no heirs and, as a French Catholic, was always considered a stranger in the village, her pension is ransacked by the villagers.

The cable car is completed and the monks and villagers appear for the inauguration ceremony. But when it is put into operation, when the first three tree trunks are sent on their way “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, the structure of the cable car collapses after the third invocation like a house of cards. Basil and Sorbas are left alone on the beach. They know that if the mine project fails, they will part ways again. Basil asks his friend to teach him to dance. The film ends with a sirtaki and happy laughter at the spectacular collapse of all their plans.

Characteristic

Sorbas always lives for the moment and thus embodies a completely different understanding of time than Basil. He also despises his book knowledge. Basil lacks - according to Sorbas - the "madness", the spontaneous approach that first defines a man who "has hands". The contrast between the reserved, often undecided, inhibited-looking Basil (he often wears glasses) and Sorbas, who has a stunningly expressive body language, runs through the entire film. Sorbas, who was traumatized by the death of his child and the experiences of war, expresses what he cannot say in spontaneous dance, in which he regains his joie de vivre. Unlike Basil, he shows spontaneous empathy for other sufferers like Madame Hortense and widows like Surmelia. Katzantzakis lets his main character say: “Yes, my dear, how deep has humanity sunk, the devil take it! The body has been silenced and only the mouth still speaks. But what can the mouth say? "

Awards

Reviews

  • Heyne-Filmlexikon: “Congenial film adaptation of the novel by Kazantzakis. The brilliant actors, the archaic backdrop, the straightforward direction and the music complement each other perfectly. "
  • Lexicon of international film : “A film adaptation of a Kazantzakis novel, staged with excellent actors in a powerful style, which admittedly does not fully exhaust the original. Staged for the main actor's fascination, the film defies any commitment and presents an exotic, captivating world. "
  • The New York Times , New York: “Anthony Quinn's Alexis Sorbas […] is Adam in the Garden of Eden, Odysseus on the deserted plateau of Troy. He's a piece of Nijinsky and a good part of Tom Jones. "
  • Süddeutsche Zeitung , Munich: "Cacoyannis has created a stylish film whose quiet intensity and rigor without concession are impressive."

particularities

  • The film and novel are based in part on actual people and events: in 1916 and 1917, Nikos Kazantzakis, with the help of his older friend Georgios Sorbas, attempted to operate a coal mine on the Mani peninsula . Thirty years later, the novel was written in which Kazantzakis changed the first name of the protagonist and moved the plot from the mainland to his home island of Crete.
  • The filming locations in Crete included the mountain village Kókkino Chorió on the Bay of Souda southeast of Chania as well as the beach of the fishing village of Stavros and the monastery of Agios Triados on the Akrotiri peninsula .
  • The Greek dance shown in the film is an adapted version of the sirtaki to simplify the complicated sequence of steps for lead actor Anthony Quinn.
  • The theme music “Zorba's Dance” ( English ) or “La danse de Zorba” ( French ), which is also the melody of Sirtakis at the end of the film, comes from Mikis Theodorakis like the entire film music . It reached the top of the charts in some countries ( Belgium , France and Austria ). In the Netherlands , the song was number one on the annual hit parade.
  • Many travelers to Greece see in the novel and the film an authentic representation of the way of life and the culture of the Greeks. The figure of Alexis Sorbas is still considered to be “typically Greek” and has shaped a widespread, romanticized image of “the Greek”.

literature

  • Nikos Kazantzakis : Alexis Sorbas. Roman (OT: Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά Vios ke politia tou Alexi Zorba, life and way of life of Alexis Sorbas). From the Greek by Alexander Steinmetz, revised by Isidora Rosenthal-Kamarinea . With an afterword by Evi Petropoulou, two manuscript facsimiles and a chronological table. Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf and Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-538-06945-X .
  • Dietmar Grieser : Piroschka, Sorbas & Co. Fates of World Literature. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-596-22214-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Alexis Sorbas. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 24, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Nikos Kazantzakis: Alexis Sorbas. Adventure in Crete. Roman (= rororo. 158). 339th - 358th thousand. Rowohlt, Hamburg 1978, ISBN 3-499-10158-0 , p. 65.
  3. ↑ Dietmar Grieser: Piroschka, Sorbas & Co. Fates of World Literature. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1980, pp. 109–119.
  4. ^ Belgian Charts (June 1, 1966). On: wultratop.be.
  5. ↑ Number one hits in France. ( Memento of October 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). On: infodisc.fr.
  6. ↑ Zorba Le Grec. On: chartsurfer.de.
  7. ↑ Iota Myrtsioti: A portrait of Greece from a Berliner who knows his stuff.