El Greco (2007)

The story of the uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco".

Director:

Yannis Smaragdis

Writers:

Dimitris Nollas (script advisor), Phil Parker (script advisor),

Stars:

Nick Ashdon, Juan Diego Botto, Laia Marull

12 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nick Ashdon	...	El Greco
Juan Diego Botto	...	Niño de Guevara
Laia Marull	...	Jerónima de las Cuevas
Lakis Lazopoulos	...	Nikolos
Sotiris Moustakas	...	Titian
Dimitra Matsouka	...	Francesca
Dina Konsta	...	Maid
Giorgos Hristodoulou	...	Duke Da Rimi
Dimitris Kallivokas	...	Chacon
Roger Coma	...	Father Paravicino
Fermí Reixach	...	Don Miguel de las Cuevas
Miquel Gelabert	...	Cardinal
Katerina Helmy	...	Spanish Noble Woman
Lida Protopsalti	...	Carcadil's Wife
Tasos Palatzidis	...	Prisonner

Storyline

The story of the uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco".

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Plot Keywords:

studio | greek dancing | 16th century | angel | dark ages | 

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Taglines:

Can Darkness Win Light?

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Greece Spain Hungary

Language:

English Spanish Greek Italian

Release Date:

22 May 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

El Greco - El último desafío a Dios

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alexandros Film, Generalitat de Catalunya - Institut Català de les Indústries Culturals (ICIC), Graal

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last acting performance by Sotiris Moustakas.

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Goofs

Just after the battle, the wound on El Greco father's forehead changes places between shots, from left forehead to just over his eyebrow.

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Quotes

El Greco: You once reached out for God, and your fingers closed on emptiness ; and you didn't learn. How can God speak to you when instead of loving you burn, ruin and spread hatred all around?
El Greco: Now, of course, my turn has come - but you can't burn me... and I'll tell you why :
El Greco: Because I've been burning all my life, my entire life ; not in the fire, in the light. I threw myself into the blaze of it.
El Greco: You light fires because you're afraid to burn. You are afraid of the light and this is why I pity you, my ...
[...]

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Soundtracks

"Siga-siga vrehei o Theos"
Rizitiko
Performed by Chania Cretan Madares

User Reviews

Spiritual perfume

This was a big thing when it came out, fellow Greek readers will attest to that. It was aggressively promoted as both 'expensive' and 'prestigious', it seems a rare thing for Greek cinema. The story went that the filmmaker had to mortgage his own house to finance his vision, proof of bold artistic merit. The movie played theatrically for what seemed like endless months - to make back its partly government-subsidized budget the rumor goes, since little interest materialized abroad. Schools planned 'educational' trips to the cinema, probably for the same reason.

How small it seems now. You can see loftier production values on TV, and probably much better acting and a less grating parade of profundities.

What really offends though is this man, Smaragdis. It's not that he is dull and completely without insight about his own craft. He is both these things, but that is a simple incompetence.

I mean, here is a film about a man of extraordinary vision who wanted to paint with light, and the 'inspirational' film about him is wholly ordinary, as lush and spiritual as perfume. A shame about Aris Stavrou, who once liked to puzzle (next to Nikos Nikolaidis) about texture and light.

It's that Smaragdis hoped to capture a bit of Greek soul (not necessarily historical 'truth') and journey with it abroad, a noble aim. Capture us as we dream ourselves to be, feisty and passionate Zorbas, pensive by centuries of hardship - a bit like Kusturica did for the neighboring Yugoslavs.

The film is set in those centuries of foreign rule, Italian and Ottoman elsewhere. There was no Rennaisance allowed in those times, it would be good to note, no lofty national art as they could develop in the salons of Western Europe. Our painting was religious. Our theater was song and dance, from Thrace to Crete. The collective soul had to pour that way, which is why they still persist and resonate so strongly in these parts

• as elsewhere in the former empire.

You will know this man is phony by watching the scene of proud Cretans dancing after a skirmish with the Italians. You'd think, if there was a bit of ancient Greek song rising from the earth, it would be in that scene. If you are ever in the region, go to a Cretan wedding or folk fest, in fact anywhere in rural Greece during times of celebration. Then watch the posturing in the film. Dismal.

If you want to know a bit about these things, to see actual Balkan spirit, seek out a man called Sergei Parajanov. He was Armenian who made films under Soviet rule, but it is the same soul he captured.