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The Travelling Players

Original title: O thiasos
  • 19751975
  • 3h 50m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
O thiasos (1975)
  • Drama
  • History
  • Music
Greece, 1939-1952: Fascist, Nazi, and Communist conflict, as seen through the eyes of a family of travelling provincial players.Greece, 1939-1952: Fascist, Nazi, and Communist conflict, as seen through the eyes of a family of travelling provincial players.Greece, 1939-1952: Fascist, Nazi, and Communist conflict, as seen through the eyes of a family of travelling provincial players.
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Theodoros Angelopoulos
  • Writer
    • Theodoros Angelopoulos
  • Stars
    • Eva Kotamanidou
    • Vangelis Kazan
    • Aliki Georgouli
Top credits
  • Director
    • Theodoros Angelopoulos
  • Writer
    • Theodoros Angelopoulos
  • Stars
    • Eva Kotamanidou
    • Vangelis Kazan
    • Aliki Georgouli
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 13User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 13 wins & 3 nominations

    Photos60

    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    Kiriakos Katrivanos in O thiasos (1975)
    Eva Kotamanidou in O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)
    O thiasos (1975)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Eva Kotamanidou
    Eva Kotamanidou
    • Electraas Electra
    Vangelis Kazan
    Vangelis Kazan
    • Aegisthusas Aegisthus
    Aliki Georgouli
    Aliki Georgouli
    • Clytemnestraas Clytemnestra
    Kiriakos Katrivanos
    Kiriakos Katrivanos
    • Pyladesas Pylades
    Stratos Pahis
    Stratos Pahis
    • Agamemnonas Agamemnon
    Nina Papazaphiropoulou
    Nina Papazaphiropoulou
    • Old Womanas Old Woman
    Giannis Fyrios
    Giannis Fyrios
    • Accordionistas Accordionist
    Alekos Boubis
    • Old Manas Old Man
    Maria Vassiliou
    Maria Vassiliou
    • Chrysothemisas Chrysothemis
    Grigoris Evangelatos
    Grigoris Evangelatos
    • Poetas Poet
    Petros Zarkadis
    Petros Zarkadis
    • Orestesas Orestes
    Kosta Stiliaris
    Kosta Stiliaris
    • Chites Leaderas Chites Leader
    Nena Menti
    Nena Menti
    • Communist Singing Girlas Communist Singing Girl
    Giorgos Mazis
    Giorgos Mazis
    Costas Messaris
    Costas Messaris
    Stelios Lionakis
    Stelios Lionakis
    Yorgos Kafkas
    Giannis Kafaloukos
    • Director
      • Theodoros Angelopoulos
    • Writer
      • Theodoros Angelopoulos
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    7.9
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    Storyline

    Edit
    A group of traveling players peregrinates through Greece attempting to perform the popular erotic drama Golfo The Shepherdess. In a first level the film focuses on the historical events between 1939 and 1952 as they are experienced by the traveling players and as they affect the villages which they visit: The last year of Metaxas' fascist dictatorship, the war against the Italians, the Nazi occupation, the liberation, the civil war between left and right wingers, the British and American interventionism in the Greek politics. In a second level the characters live their own drama of jealousy and betrayal, with its roots in the ancient myth of the House of Atreus. Agamemnon, a Greek refugee from Minor Asia, goes to war against the Italians in 1940, joins the resistance against the Germans, and is executed by them after being betrayed by Clytemnestra and Aegisthos. Aegisthos, Clytemnestra's lover, is an informer and collaborator working with the German occupiers. Orestes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, fights on the side of the leftists, avenges his father's death by killing his mother and Aegisthos. He is arrested in 1949 for his guerrilla activities and is executed in prison in 1951. Electra, his sister, helps the leftists and aids her brother in avenging the treachery of their mother and Aegisthos. After the death of Orestes she continues the work of the troupe and her relationship with Pylades. Chrysotheme, Electra's younger sister, collaborates with the Germans, prostitutes herself during the occupation, sides with the British during liberation, and later marries an American. Pylades, close friend of Orestes, is a Communist who is exiled by the Metaxas regime, joins the guerrillas and is arrested and exiled again. Finally he is forced to sign a written denunciation of the left after torture by the right wing and he is released from prison in 1950. —Alkistis Zografou
    • male nudity
    • 1950s
    • 1940s
    • 1930s
    • brechtian
    • 44 more
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Genres
      • Drama
      • History
      • Music
      • War
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The whole film is accomplished in around 80 shots.
    • Quotes

      Elektra's Father: [before he is executed by the Germans] I came cross the sea, from Ionia. Where did you come from?

    • Connections
      Featured in Apefasisamen kai diatassomen: I Hounta, i logokrisia kai o ellinikos kinimatografos (1967 - 1974) (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      Giati hairetai o kosmos (Ymnos tis 4is Avgoustou)
      Music by Gerasimos Fren

      Performed by Vangelis Kazan

    User reviews13

    Review
    Top review
    A great but ponderous work; covers modern Greek history by retelling ancient Greek tragedy.
    This is a landmark film, a must see for anyone that wishes to understand modern Greek history and politics. The plot is a loose retelling of the Oresteia cycle of tragedies by Aeschylus--the names of the characters (Orestes, Electra, Chrysothemis) are an obvious hint. Betrayal, revenge and redemption are only part of the story. It takes place in Greece between 1936 and 1952, years filled with fascist dictatorship, war, Axis occupation, civil war and repression. Greece's traumatic history is seen through the eyes of a traveling company of actors, who travel all around provincial towns to perform a single play: "Golfo", a pastoral tragedy told in folk-song-inspired rhyming couplets.

    This is not a movie for action-loving, short-attention-span viewers. Angelopoulos and his long-time collaborator, renowned cinematographer Arvanitis, have developed a very distinctive style, and "O Thiassos" is an uncompromising example. There are no close-ups, very little panning, some slow tracking; shots are long (both in point of view and time); almost every shot is filmed in overcast conditions; actors are dwarfed by their surroundings, which are all unglamorous, even depressing in their wartime run-down look. One could say that the purpose is to accentuate the tragic, the sense that the characters are cogs in the machine of history; but ancient tragedy did the same in big style, opulent costumes, and terrifying masks. Angelopoulos' politics induces him to focus on ordinary people in ordinary surroundings instead. The result is strangely, hauntingly lyrical to many; a real downer for some.

    The film came out in 1975, a year after the end of the dictatorial right-wing regime of the "colonels" (1967-74), and after decades of repression of communists and their sympathisers. Angelopoulos' point of view is sympathetic to the left/communist side. Under full democracy, it was finally allowed to be expressed. The film helped shape the political sensibilities of a whole generation of Greek baby boomers. Its sixteen-year trek (plod, some would say) through Greek history will probably bewilder non-Greek viewers, but it is a deeply affecting crash-course in what shaped contemporary Greece. It is also an impressive re-interpretation of tragedy, as original as any I have seen on film.
    helpful•35
    5
    • YP
    • Jan 6, 1999

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 13, 1975 (Greece)
    • Country of origin
      • Greece
    • Languages
      • Greek
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Die Wanderschauspieler
    • Filming locations
      • Aigio, Greece
    • Production company
      • Papalios Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      3 hours 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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