Antigone/Rites of Passion

I viewed this film with my freshman theatre arts class and after taking a vote they all rated it a 1 on a scale of 10. These students have been studying Antigone extensively for 8 weeks and had nothing positive to say about it. They found the choreography to be poor, the use of voice over confusing and the music disturbing. They had trouble following the story, even though they have been dissecting Sophocles' words for weeks. To quote my students, "It was a poor excuse for an adaptation of a great play." "The director is apparently on crack" For viewers that are trying to understand the story of Antigone, this film only served to confuse them rather than clarify.

We watched this film in English class as a joke. This is one of the worst "films" I have ever seen and is so bad that you can watch the entire thing in fast-forward mode and not miss a single detail. The dancers are writhing. The dancers are rolling around in the dirt. The dancers are groping each other histrionically. Repeat.

I could not stand more than 20 minutes of this travesty. The movie reminded me of a high school modern dance recital. After watching the movie for five minutes you realize that the dancers, yes dancers, go through the same movements over and over again. They aren't even good dancers. There are no actors, there is a voice-over telling what is going on as the `dancers' writhe. Sophocle's poetry is jettisoned for the voice over. Maybe the movie gets better, but I could not stand any more.

This is the most inspiring and brilliantly made movie of all time. This ranks next to Jaws, Forest Gump, and Gone With the Wind. This first time director rivals the work of the legendary Stephen Spielberg. If you do not see this movie, a part of your soul is missing. The interpretive dance was a brilliant resource for artistic ability. The incestuous groping really authenticates the Greek lifestyle and times. The leaving of Anigone's blind father in the barren forest really pulls at your heartstrings. I absolutely loved the fight between the two Greek warriors. This scene shows the internal conflict and sexual confusion through the aggressive and passionate fight/dance motions. I loved this movie!!! The music was also absolutely astounding! Buy this soundtrack!!!!

This movie was possibly the worst thing I've ever seen. I showed it in my 10th grade English class because we were studying Antigone and this was the only film version the library had. I will never show this again! I am a big fan of "artsy" movies, but I couldn't take this crap. The "acting" was minimal, the actors just flailed around and touched each other sensually a lot. The soundtrack was hideous: a lot of pseudo-opera screeching. Oedipus and Creon were the played by the same person, which was confusing at the end when Creon took his shirt off for no reason. It really turned into a joke. They could have cut this movie in half and not had to lose any of the story.