The Travelling Players (1975) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by reibureibu ★★★★★ 23

  Wherein history totally, utterly, completely collapses in on itself, subsuming everything it entangles until it's no longer recognizable in contiguous form but a matrix of events which each signify, reflect, echo each other, infinite experiences all infinitely experiencing each other, simultaneously, until any sense of historicity becomes irrelevant as everything becomes history no matter how insignificant they may seem to our inquiring eyes. Mythology may simply be the stories we tell each other, pass down to each other, as explanations for the phenomenon we encounter in our lives, yet identifying such myths as narrative alone robs them of their power and place in our own history; they are not just mere stories but extensions of human function in which our…

• Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★★ 55

  ***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***

  Never before had cinema presented such an effective, original and cinematically influential perspective concerning the Second World War. Extensive Greek master Theodoros Angelopoulos achieves international attention thanks to his second and best chapter in A Trilogy of History, one of the most ambitious films in the entire history of moviemaking, and undeniably one of the best and most powerful war films of all time. The mysticism is overabundant, the technical perfection that was intentionally added to the film is masterly orchestrated through a wonderful cast and a perfectly poetical balance, and its noticeably audacity in the process of defying the regimes, the abuse of power and the definitive turning point…

• Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 10

  desperate expression of craft as
  desires, designs & dreams -- against
  the backdrop of bedlam as refractory,
  turbulent & ungovernable persecution.

• Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★½ 3

  Classifying as a film that manages to take possession of considerable fascinating strength, Theodoros Angelopoulos directs The Travelling Players with a particular cinematic style that he has uniquely designed. The retired socialist film critic inhabits the movie with characters that are virtually denotative of merely clasps to attach the narrative of the contemporary history of his country; the production of which he had to conceal from the far-right military juntas that ruled Greece following the 1967 Greek coup d'état.

  Angelopolous accomplishes some outstanding sequences with several rather complicated camera movements as he observes the small travelling troupe drifting through historical circ*mstances; witnessing a country ravaged by civil war over the films two hundred and twenty-three-minute runtime and which sees them periodically delivering direct-to-camera monologues. The director exhibits a remarkable aesthetic artfulness, and while comprehension of the historical and political events are not always clear, it's themes of injuries to nationalism and the communal experience are impeccable.

• Review by Jerry McGlothlin ★★★★½ 26

  History is fluid, its frayed tassels intermingled like the bodies of dancers. With each instance of destruction, there is a chance for mankind to redeem itself for all of its horrors. Old regimes are rightly condemned while the ones that take their place lay the foundation for the very same injustices they sought to overthrow. History is a vicious circle—a loudened stage for humanity to act out upon.

  Who else but Angelopoulos could pull of a six year time jump in the confines of a single tracking shot? I’ll wait…
  
  The Travelling Playersseeks to teach us about ourselves through a unique blend of the poetic and the dialectical. Through his complete and total mastery of every element of the form,…

• Review by Ziglet_mir ★★★★ 13

  Collabin'with the lovelyIrene! Give her a follow and check out her review! Thanks for asking me to do this film.
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  In 1935, Alfred Hitchco*ck made The 39 Steps, a film based on a novel written during WW1. Hitch retooled the source material by inserting a new array of characters back-dropped against the eve of WWII. One of the largest changes made from the novel to the film is the use of Mr. Memory, the British blue-collar stage performer who can recall intense piles of information. Author (and friend) Daniel Keickhefer mentions this in greater detail on his website (PLEASE READ), but the reason I bring this up here is because Hitchco*ck’s intent with The 39 Steps is for its…

• Review by Jaime Rebanal 🇵🇸 ★★★★★ 1

  This is a really overwhelming picture. The more I think of it the more I find there is for someone like myself to love about such a movie. It's one of those movies that moves slowly, but subtly, in a really hypnotizing manner. Nearly four hours, but there's that feeling that comes to me, the similar feeling when I watched Yi Yi, by the time it ended even with such an incredible length, I simply wanted more. I felt so attached to what I was watching to the point, I didn't want any of it to end.

  This is a movie that depicts Greece, its history within its history. Angelopoulos never uses these historical events as a background for his…

• Review by Zegan ★★★★★ 2

  I don't know what to say .... I just don't have the words.

• Review by PopcornIdeology ★★★½ 1

  Imagine making a nearly 4-hour film with just 80 shots, that’s incredible

  Before I get into my brief review, I would like to say I watched this film in two chunks. I watched two hours first, then exactly one week later I rewatched one hour and completed the next two (probably should’ve just rewatched the whole thing but oh well).

  As someone that knew very little about Greece’s history and mythology before watching this, it became excruciatingly clear that Angelopoulos’ Brechtian historical epic chronicling Greece’s tumultuous political conflicts following the culmination of WWII was going to go over my head a bit. Luckily I was able to read more into the events the film was covering during my unfortunate and…

• Review by Puffin ★★★★★ 7

  March Around the World 2018

  12/30: Greece

  Theo Angelopoulos is never constrained by time, and yet he is always burdened by it. The hardships of history play an integral and complex role in so many of his works, and the sprawling The Travelling Players is no exception. It's in fact so large and so complex that many consider it his finest work. Whether it is or it isn't is up for debate, but it's arguable we see Angelopoulos' most ambitious and emotional storytelling here.

  Largely musical scenes are seen throughout, whether they be through escapism, celebration, or for political purpose. Few joyful scenes seem to end on the same note of joy, and while the countryside and music can often…

• Review by Jonathan White ★★★★★ 25

  Part of Lise’s annual 30 Countries Challenge / March Around the World

  Film #7 - Greece

  Damn, I wish I had Angelopoulos as a history teacher.

  Originally, I thought I would read up on the history of Greece before and proceeding the second world war. I then thought the better, I wanted to be informed by the film, and then do some research.

  I very much got the impression that Angelopoulos wasn’t just making the film for his countrymen, but to educate non-Greeks. I loved seeing the story unfold, and trying to decipher what he was trying to tell me.

  I was never sure if the teasing of Golfo the Shepherdess as a five act play was to inform us…

• Review by Sally Jane Black

  What at first seemed confusing--the fluid political/social stances of some of the characters--later became illuminating. In a way, it suggests that every extreme ideology and imperialist occupation that fought for control of Greece was interchangeable, and in a way, it reflected the changes going on in Greece over the course of that period of history/the film. And, in a way, it captured the essence of the title of the film--that these are all just actors in a grand drama, portrayers of a tale that seems almost mythological on a certain level, in that it is representative of a larger, more complex story.

  No film that I've seen has better illustrated imperialism. The lies the western nations tell (themselves and others)…