Word: kazantzakis
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Dates: during 1959-1959
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...himself a huge task when he decided to film He Who Must Die-- the task of showing how and why Christ, if He came to earth, must again be crucified. Fortunately, Dassin was given a good head start by the book of the same title written by Nikos Kazantzaki, an unquestionably talented author. His presumption, however, as well as that of Dassin, can and ought to be questioned, though not without honest attempts at an answer...
...shepherd makes a convincing Christ, thanks largely to a brilliant device of Kazantzaki: until he most needs speech the shepherd stutters incomprehensibly, at which time his simple courage and sincerity is given tongue. The rest of the credit belongs to the director, who uses the camera throughout the first half of the film in a straight-on manner, getting dramatic effects from posing and from motion directly in and out or across the screen. His scenes resemble a series of carefully posed Renaissance paintings, narrating a Biblical story, for he focuses attention not by close-ups or dramatic angles...
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