Zorba the Greek

Basil, a half-English writer, comes to Crete to work a mine he has inherited from his father. At the harbour he meets Alexis Zorba, who hires himself as foreman. Basil has learned from books, is cautious and reserved; Zorba postpones nothing. The mining project collapses, and what happens to two women in the town darkens the film. The film is not interested in a lesson about life. It is interested in the town itself: while telling of Zorba's appetite for living, it shows that same town lynching a widow and looting a dying woman's possessions before she is dead. Those two scenes say the film does not deserve its cheerful reputation. The form is wide: the Cretan landscape, black-and-white images, stone villages. Mikis Theodorakis's score and the sirtaki at the end became its best-known element. Mihalis Kakogiannis directed, from Nikos Kazantzakis's novel. The film took seven nominations at the 37th Academy Awards and won three: supporting actress, art direction and cinematography. Anthony Quinn plays Zorba, Alan Bates plays Basil and Irene Papas the widow. Quinn became identified with the part, which was both his reward and his cage. Who it is for: viewers who like adaptations of classic literature and Mediterranean films. Who it is not for: anyone who knows the film only from the dance. The story is far darker and what becomes of the women is hard to take now.