Word: englishman
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...earthy, powerful Zorba is growing old--and growing aware of it--when he encounters an intellectual young Englishman. Together they go to Crete. Or more accurately, Zorba invites himself with his usual impulsiveness and the Englishman accepts with an impulsiveness which is most unusual for him. Zorba meets an aging French courtesan, an outcast in the Cretan community, and makes her feel young again and watches her die. Meanwhile the Englishman meets a young widow, as beautiful and bitter as the ancient Greek heroines. He makes love to her. A young boy who loved her in vain drowns himself...
...behind this plot, with its obvious parallels and clear-cut themes, are emotions as subtle and changing as the ocean which Zorba and the Englishman live near. This curious combination of the most obvious and most suggestive is typical of Kazantzakis's writing. In adapting the novel and directing the film, Michael Cacoyannis has captured much of the combination...
...French, Italian, and Russian generals; so defiant that after a mine he has attempted to open collapses, he shakes his fist at the obstinate mountain and vows to conquer it. And his delivery of the movie's unforgettable line is perfect. Earnest yet energetic, he says to the young Englishman beside him, "Boss, you've got everything--looks, brains.... But you need a little madness...
...then, unfortunately, there's Alan Bates. Zorba the Greek is a superb film anyway. But anyone who has read the book would join me in adding the "anyway." For in the novel, the Englishman whom Bates portrays is a complex character, whom the reader respects as much as he loves Zorba. Zorba may embody life, but Zorba's boss hardly embodies lifelessness...
...book ends as the Englishman learns of Zorba's death. In the film both of them rediscover life. Their mine has failed, and their projects for hauling down wood ended in disaster. The women they have made love to are dead. The two men join hands and dance...