Kazantzakis

Like it or not, Nikos Kazantzakis has had a decisive influence on Greek letters and the intellectual life of modern Greece. This is probably why it makes me wonder how was it possible for such an experienced director as Smaragdis to present a work so superficial and profoundly dull. We were waiting for a thrilling biopic, but instead of that we got another cliched fairy tale.

Everything in this film is based almost entirely on overused platitudes, idealizations and simplifications. And it's not the cast's fault. All of the leads here are accomplished actors and are honestly doing their best to get something good out of this whole cinematic mess. But the dialogue is so pretentious and the direction so naive that the viewer gets more puzzled and frustrated by the minute. And, by the way, who had the bright idea to have Zorba dance literally every time he's on his feet? It's cheesy and unfair for somebody whose character had had a profound impact on the protagonist's life. The same thing happens with the poet Sikelianos, as he is caricatured as a conceited odd fellow.

Kazantzakis as a writer deserves so much better! This unnecessary idolization doesn't really serve any purpose.

The film about the prominent author Nikos Kazantzakis is lacking the depth that the author itself had. It's un unskillful patchwork of Nikos Kazantzakis lines from his many marvellous books with no real coherence. It's an awkwardly made 2 hours video clip of Nikos Kazantzakis famous parts of his books with the sole intention to make a part of the Greeks (apparently those who are not familiar with his work but only with his famous book characters eg Zorbas)feel proud about the great compatriot. The level of acting is deplorable in every sense. The film is annoyingly bad.

I mean no disrespect to anybody, because i do appreciate some of the actors playing in this film, but this movie is as bad as it gets. No real character development, no realistic dialogues, it all looks too pretentious. The direction is awful as well. i constantly felt like those who made that movie, haven't even read the majority of kazantzakis work! So, i encourage everybody to read kazantzakis books, read all of them, read ZORMPAS, read it again and again! But you gain nothing by watching this movie..

After having read most of Kazantzaki's books i decided to watch the movie. Even though, i think, they tried their best, it is really hard to portray the depth of the author's book in a 2 hour movie. Therefore it looked really shallow and some of the times it made me cringe. I hope someone could give it a go once more.

Its very difficult to describe the life of an author like Kazantzakis, because his life is full interesting, beautiful and painfull experience. Thats why I think they did good job l. Always support the biographical movies ❤✔📽