For me this is the most visually and audibly haunting of all of Angelopoulos' films.
Beyond the sights and sounds though, the film delves into the thematic concerns which Angelopoulos has grappled with in his 40 years of film making:
- The troubling foreign involvement in Greek political and cultural affairs
- The failure of the Greek government to respond effectively to the crises presented before it
- The rise and fall of the communistic ideal and the cult of personality
- The burdens of the historical past upon individuals in the present
- The deconstruction of the foreigner as savior (Oedipus, St. George, Kolokotronis, Jesus, Alexander)
- The personal cost of living amidst contested geographic, political and moral borders
- Journeying as a metaphor for the search for meaning
- The nihilism in modernity and the struggle to forge a new way forward
It's not his clearest or most coherent film, and probably shouldn't be watched until one is familiar with 'smaller' Angelopoulos pieces, but it is the film that resonates with me the most after having seen his body of work.
