Antigone

Antigone, written by Sophocles, is a characteristic Greek tragedy where the city's king, Creon, is faced with a moral dilemma that eventually hastens his fall from grace. Set in antiquity, the movie's plot is designed to question presupposed ideas of justice and wisdom as they were seen through the ancient Greek perspective.

In the movie, the protagonist, Antigone, is faced with a moral dilemma after her king, Creon, orders that her brother should be left unburied (a terrible punishment in ancient Greek culture since it would prevent his passage through the river Styx). Eventually, Despite the king's decree, Antigone decided that her brother's death with-out burial was unjust and challenged Creon's authority to prevent his burial by performing the ritual herself. After the discovery of her crime, Creon sentences Antigone to death – an act that created a great deal of unpopularity in the kingdom and incited lines of questioning very similar to contemporary Socratic arguments.

Creon's decision to sentence Antigone to death and her brother to a hellish afterlife were seen as unjust and despotic by the people of Thebes and caused his wisdom/authority to be questioned. Since ancient Greeks believed that the Sovereign set the morality of their city state, the act of questioning alone represents Socratic argument. Sophocles sets up questioning, in a manner very similar to Socratic arguments made through Euthyphro and Apology, by using Creon's own son and oracle to test Creon's judgment in an attempt to show that just being a king does not make someone wise or knowledgeable of justice.

The morality of Antigone eventually surfaces after Creon's fall from grace. At the end of the movie, Creon finally sees the error of his ways but Sophocles uses his downfall to express how even king's judgment can be governed through hubris instead of actual wisdom.

...Or, Two Rights Make A Wrong. Over the years I've seen many versions of Antigone, both films and TV and even read two translations of the timeless tale by Sophocles but I was mainly interested in seeing this one as I've never heard it spoken in Greek before. Can't understand a word; whether it makes it more authentic or not is debatable - and after digesting all the concepts in the play whether you need another idea to debate is also debatable – but it certainly adds another dimension.

Strong minded woman Antigone wants to bury her brother Polyneices returned from exile who kills but is killed in battle by her other brother Eteocles who is feted as Thebes' saviour and given a hero's burial. Wilful King Creon decrees death to anyone honourably burying the traitor Polyneices bringing calamity and endless moral dilemmas for all concerned. Antigone is excellently played by Irene Papas, fresh from The Guns of Navarone the year before. This is Sophocles whizzed through in eighty minutes, concentrating on this wilfulness, pride and refusal to listen either to their gods, counsel or commonsense. It's been a salutary lesson for all people but especially despots and politicians of all eras; some wilfully blind leaders lead nations to war and destruction with their gods on their side and in the aftermath justify themselves even if it means black must be white…and vv too of course. The ever modern tragedies are that the despots and politicians never heed the lessons in here though and indeed that ordinary people still desire shepherds to lead them. Without going into any of the moral and ethical points raised (plenty mentioned in other comments here) as a film it's a reasonable effort and well acted and engrossing enough although I'd always imagined Thebes to be a little grander somehow. If you're still unsure: memorable, lots to chew over but absolutely no laughs.

The play 'Antigone', written by Sophocles in 441 BC is not just a great piece of theatre but also raises political, ethical and philosophical issues which render it timeless. The blind Tiresias upbraids King Creon with 'All tyrants are gluttons for their ill-gotten power' and warns him that he will pay a terrible price for having denied Polyneices burial and condemning Antigone to entombment. Athenians at the time would certainly have related to the folly of tyranny. Unlike most 'absolute rulers' he relents but alas too late. This is a very accomplshed adaptation by writer/director Yorgos Tzavallas with a fine score by Argyris Kournadis. The cast is uniformly excellent. The striking Irene Papas, no stranger to tragic Greek heroines on both stage and screen, deservedly won an award at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance as Antigone. Her character arouses our sympathy but one should not forget that her grim fate and the play's tragedy stems as much from her own stubbornness as from Creon's intractability. Manos Katrakis is absolutely stupendous as Creon. He too was recognised for his performance at the International Film Festival in San Francisco. Papas and Katrakis went on to excel in 'Electra' for Cacoyannis two years later. One does not have to be a classical scholar to appreciate this first class film but should seeing it arouse ones interest in the wonders of Greek tragedy then it has more than served its purpose.

Most people who watch this film will be doing it in order to see an example of a classic Greek tragedy. They will be satisfied. It is dignified, stately, and absolutely dripping with fate, destiny, and tragedy.

But what if you are more like an average movie-goer? Does it hold up under more normal criteria? I think it does to some extent, but not particularly well. The plot is started at the very beginning of the opening scene as Antigone expresses her determination to bury her dead brother, and everything else follows inevitably - the entire story is plot-driven. It's a rather simple plot, but it does carry you along. I'm not sure there's a lot more that's really compelling about the film. It's pretty stagey, with actors and extras forming nice patterns, as if lining up with chalk lines on the floor. Although there are a number of small processions and such, this is not a costume epic with a cast of thousands and crane shots filling the screen with colourful eye candy. It's filmed in black and white. Is the acting good? Sure, but bear in mind that the range of emotions is quite limited, and characters pretty much talk in set speeches. They do imbue their dignified speeches with the correct emotions and make them sound sincere.

But, to be honest, I don't think you would recommend this film to anyone unless they had a pre-existing interest in classical Greek drama.

In Thebes in ancient Greece, King Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother Jocasta, having two sons – Eteocles and Polyneices – and two daughters – Ismene and Antigone. King Oedipus dies a beggar in the exile after gouging out his own eye, and Eteocle agrees to reign in Thebes in alternating years with Polynices. However, he refuses to resign after the first year and Polynieces raises an army and attacks Thebes, and they kill each other.

The ruler of Thebes Creon (Manos Katrakis) decrees that Eleocles should have an honorable burial while the body of the traitor Polyneices should be left on the battlefield to be eaten by the jackals and vultures. However, Antigone (Irene Papas), who was betrothed to Creon's surviving son Haemon (Nikos Kazis), defies Creon's orders and buries her brother. When Creon is reported of the attitude of Antigone, he sentences her to be placed in a tomb alive. Antigone hangs herself in the tomb and Haemon tries to kill his father first and then he kills himself with his sword. When Creon's wife Eurydice (Ilia Livykou) is informed of the death of her son, she also commits suicide, leaving Creon alone.

The theatrical "Antigoni" is a nice feature about the famous Greek tragedy of Sophocles focused in Antigone, the incestuous daughter of Oedipus and therefore also his half-sister and Jocasta's granddaughter. The movie begins with an important big picture of Thebes and the major characters of that period, and is extremely well acted. This is the first time that I watch this movie and I saw it in an American VHS. I only regret the quality of the subtitles that are visibly too much summarized since there are long speeches of characters that are translated in two or three words in English. My vote is eight.

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