Word: greekness
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...great changes in artistic vision of the 20th century was the shift from the classical ideals of Greek and Roman statuary to a larger view that accepted primitive art as no less human and as equally beautiful. Artists, especially the cubists, began collecting African artifacts, were soon exploiting their untrammeled, expressionistic energy in their own painting; gradually sculpture long thought fit only for ethnological institutes began moving into galleries, museums and homes as objects of artistic merit. Yet this eager interest in African art could not have happened without the brief, tragic encounter of two civilizations...
Zorba the Greek will probably please most of the people who go to see it, and that is where the pity lies. Director Michael Cacoyannis has assembled a neat package of cinematic goodies wrapped in effective technique which appears fine until examined. But one should not trust the Greeks, especially when they bear gifts, and similarly one should not trust this film...
...does not feel sorry for rates as he travels this Faustian road to degeneration. If a young man should have to go to ruin anywhere, Crete is a highly scenic spot to do it. The skillful photography in Zorba elaborates this point, as well as the delightful Greek music. But the acting of Anthony Quinn as Zorba remains the most persuasive part of this movie. His huge face seen often in close-up dominates the theatre. It pleads to you, it sings to you, it grimaces, laughs, it even belches at you until you are so wrapped...
While nominated for an Academy Award in this country, Zorba the Greek has been poorly received in Europe, particularly in Greece where crowds have stormed the theatres in protest. Apparently the Greeks do not like to see their national character portrayed as the personification of animal instinct. The novel by Niklos Kazantzakis, on which the film was based, achieves a balance between the central characters so that a meaningful contrast can take place. The movie lacks that balance and so lapses into sentimentality. So fresh and unusual, with such vigorous acting and directing, if this film fails...
Shield on Cyprus. The conflict dates back to last May, and oddly enough it began in Cyprus. There, General George Grivas, commanding the Greek-controlled National Guard, reported to the King and Defense Minister Petros Garoufalias, 64, his discovery of a secret army-officer organization called Aspida (shield). Aspida, said Grivas, was a nationalistic leftist movement, one of whose aims was Greece's withdrawal from NATO. It appeared to be connected with K.Y.P., the Greek CIA, and to have been extended to Cyprus in November 1964. It was about this time that Andreas Papandreou, the Premier...