Celui qui doit mourir

The same writer wrote "last temptation of Christ" where the Savior and Mary Magdelene played prominent parts too.

Dassin was driven from his country in the wake of the witch hunt.He came to France where he made an estimable film noir " Du Rififi Chez les Hommes "(which does not cut his best American works such as " night and the city" or "brute force" )"Celui qui doit mourir is his second film in seven year ,and although it took place in Greece ,it was essentially made with French money and French actors (Pierre Vaneck,Fernand Ledoux,Maurice Ronet,Roger Hanin,Jean Servais are all first-class thespians),the only important Greek artist being Melina Mercouri (it was the first time Dassin had directed her and he was to marry her afterward).

Unfairly despised in France," he who must die" is probably Dassin's best European work.In a Greek village ,under Turkish occupation ,a bunch of refugees asks for help:they are starving and they would like to settle in the hills ,where they could clear pieces of lands which the inhabitants do not cultivate.But their priest does not agree and he tells them so :they have cholera and they could contaminate us all! In the village they get ready for a commemoration of the Passion:a shepherd will be Christ,a widow,Mary Magdelene ,some other inhabitants ,the apostles...but what's the point of this masquerade,which becomes a farce if some people are dying only a mile from your place?the "actors" take a rebel stand and they side with the refugees.Then the new "crucifixion" is around the corner.The Turks turn into some kind of Romans and their chief some Pilate who can wash his hands without tears.

God gives the stammering shepherd the power of speech.The rich young man gives all he owns to the Poor ...

NB: Joseph Dassin aka Jo Dassin ,the director's son ,who was very famous as a singer in Europa ,in the sixties/Seventies ,appears briefly as a young refugee :you can spot him in the scene when their priest tells his flock he dreamed he saw saint George last night.

I saw this movie in about 1959 and it is seared into my mind. It is the most ordinary, but miraculous story of a parallel of Christ's life. I have searched diligently for a copy of the film, either in Digital Video Disk or VHS format. I might even be able to afford a copy of the film, although I have no idea what a print would cost.

It depicts a Greek village's reenactment of the passion play, done each year in the community. The man who is selected to play the part of Christ (as well as the other players) is encouraged to behave as much like Christ as he can imagine. the net result is that he must die because of the nature of the humans (including the organized religion in the community).

I mean, this is the most moving, thought provoking story I've EVER seen on film. Any help by others in finding a copy would be greatly appreciated.

In contemporary life, where the struggles of power vie for our souls, I am constantly reminded of the passion that this film embodies. 'He Who Must Die' has become the quintessential metaphor for our spiritual unfolding in the modern world. The final scenes epitomize the existential dilemma of our lives: the fight for freedom and authenticity that too often puts us at odds with the practical accommodations of our community and the laws enforced by our rulers. This battle on behalf of humanity often results in rout, and yet we fight on with a fulfilled heart, the love of our comrades in arms and a belief in justice in spite of defeat and death. Jules Dassin was blacklisted by Joe McCarthy because he was willing to stand for his values. This film is perhaps his greatest acknowledgment of this struggle. Nikos Kazanzakis himself, summed it up: 'I fear nothing. I hope for nothing. I am free!'

I loved this film and fervently believe it should be re-released.

When I saw this movie as a teenager, I felt I had experienced an ultimate moment in movie-going. How such a story could be so convincingly and moving portrayed has remained a talisman throughout my life. Still, at age 60, I regard this film as among the two or three finest films of all time.

Rather than go the usual Hollywood biblical epic route, this Good Friday I opted for an alternative "Communist" view of the tale of the Christ via 2 European films made by exiled American film-makers: Edward Dmytryk's British-made GIVE US THIS DAY aka Christ IN CONCRETE (1949) and the French film under review – both of which, incidentally, also share blacklisted screenwriter Ben Barzman. Naturally, neither of these movies is located in Roman-ruled Judea or features crucifixions and, in fact, they are allegorical in nature and modernized in setting. Celebrated Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis – on whose book "Christ Recrucified" Dassin's film was based – would die the same year HE WHO MUST DIE was released and is himself perhaps best-known for another controversial work on similar lines, "The Last Temptation Of Christ", that was filmed much later by fervently Catholic film-maker Martin Scorsese. Set in 1921 in a small Greek village under Turkish rule during Passion Week, the film deals with the moral dilemma caused by the arrival in town of a group of Greek fugitives led by their priest (Jean Servais) – the survivors of a nearby village that was burned to the ground by the Turks. The majority of the townspeople, headed by the fearsome local priest Grigoris (Fernand Ledoux) and the wealthy mayor (Gert Frobe), refuse them any help lest they be judged traitors by the Turks, but a handful are sympathetic to the fugitives' plight: Maurice Ronet (as Forbe's hesitant son), Melina Mercouri (as the popular local widow-whore) and Pierre Vanek (as a simple shepherd in Frobe's employ). HE WHO MUST DIE marked a departure for Dassin who, leaving behind his tried-and-tested noir territory in which he had excelled until then, goes straight for Art in this powerful but heavy-going drama. The villagers are deep in preparation for the annual Passion pageant on Good Friday (a tradition that is still highly popular in my neck of the woods – in fact, I had an uncle and a good friend of mine who both used to take part in local representations of this sort many years ago!) when the harassed band of countrymen pass through their town; needless to say, the resulting heated confrontations makes everybody forget all about the play but the Christ saga soon enacts itself in real-life in the person of the stuttering shepherd (who, unsurprisingly, had been the one chosen to portray Jesus in the first place). The reteaming of Servais and Carl Mohner (as a chief member of the fugitive group) – both from Dassin's legendary caper RIFIFI (1955) – could not have been more different, nor (the future Mrs. Dassin) Melina Mercouri's portrayal here – despite the surface similarities – of the proverbial "whore with a heart of gold" than that of her most famous role in Dassin's popular hit, NEVER ON Sunday (1960)! This unholy mélange of patriotism and sensuality – not to mention Communist solidarity and Christian hypocrisy – cannot fail to give rise to impressive sequences and performances (particularly a white-haired Frobe and the enigmatic 'Blond Christ' Vanek) along the way but also, at least, one major deficiency: the villagers' avowed fear of Turkish retaliation if they aid the fugitives – especially as displayed via the overstated performance of Ledoux as a vindictive Patriarch – rings false when set against the laid-back personality of the Turkish Agha (Gregoire Aslan), perennially clad in pyjamas, seemingly uninterested in anything that happens around him and perfectly happy (until the finale, that is) to let his Christian subjects fight it out amongst themselves! Likewise, the melodramatic tussles over Mercouri's favors, between the awkward, pacifist Vanek and the robust, violent Roger Hanin, seem intended to give the film an extra touch of Greek tragedy more than anything else. Nevertheless, I am grateful to have been provided with an opportunity to check out this elusive Dassin film, and also very glad that it was by way of such a (surprisingly) pristine widescreen copy.