Paysage dans le brouillard

I saw this movie when it was playing in Berkeley in 1990. This is one of the most beautiful and haunting films I have ever seen. Filled with scenes of mythic beauty and magical realism. It is, on the surface, about two siblings search for their father, but it is also about the search for something both less obvious and more universal. It haunted my dreams for months and some of the images in this film have stayed with me to this day. If you are of a philosophical bent and are open to the experience, I believe you will enjoy this film very much.

A journey is often the best way to find yourself, even if you are looking for something else. Greek director Theo Angelopoulos' film traces two runaway children – 11-year-old Voula (Tania Palaiologou) and her five- year-old brother Alexandros (Michalis Zeke) – as they search for a fictive father their mother made up stories about. On the road, they learn the realities of life – cruelty, violence and the crude struggle for survival, but also friendship and the first stirrings of romance. In a particularly startling scene, joy and sorrow are revealed simultaneously as a horse dies before their eyes, even as a marriage is mirthfully celebrated nearby. In another, the hand of a statue pulled out of the water could symbolise fragmentation, among several other things. In the end, the quest is hopeless. It's a desperate search for value, for meaning, for that indistinct dream you cling on to which gives life a sense of purpose.

A broad social criticism on contemporary Greece of the 1980's. Some scenes more successful than others, and it does drag a bit and is, as is usual for Angelopoulos, a bit contrived. Worth making the effort for anyway. The most intense scenes are the rape scene which happens out of sight and consists of one long slow dolly shot, and the wedding scene in which the future of the bride is given metaphor by a dying horse being dragged down the road by a truck.

(1988) Landscapes In The Mist/ Topio stin omihli (In Greek with English subtitles) DRAMA/ ART HOUSE

Co-produced, co-written and directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos which the tone that is similar Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'Avventura" but there's a lack of rhythm or flow in terms of the structure centering on a couple of children going on an odyssey in search of their real father they had never met. There are way too many pause shots of them standing around doing nothing walking along the highway which can be metaphorically confusing and can frustrate the average impatient viewer, and it is those scenes that makes this 124 minutes quite long to watch. I never liked this film as I initially saw it, but as a result of reading and hearing other peoples interpretations I have grown to accept it. This is the third of three films of Angelopoulos's 'Silent Trilogy', even though they still can be watched without the others being seen. The other two are "Voyage to Cythera" released in 1983 and then "The Beekeeper" released in 1986.

A quest for an unknown father becomes an odyssey into adulthood for two illegitimate Greek children, traveling alone the length of their country in a hopeless attempt to trace the whereabouts of a man they know only from the bedside fairy tales told by their mother. The journey is often grim and brutal, but is also filled by occasional magic, transforming their search into a sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter reflection of childhood mysteries and adolescent pain.

The reticent screenplay and slow, deliberate rhythms will likely be tedious to anyone with a TV-damaged attention span, but the same understated detachment can sometimes have a devastating impact, for example during a rape scene made all the more chilling for taking place just out of view, and in total silence. Discriminating viewers able to avoid nodding off into their popcorn will find it a film of rare beauty, with an emotional resonance to match the often haunting imagery.