Focused on a 10 year span between 1989 and 1999 in the ancient site of Eleusis near Athens, Koutsaftis renders one of the most moving documentaries ever made on antiquities and ruins! Images speak of themselves in depicting the agony of the locals to preserve the little there's left of their historic site from modern man's ongoing exploitation. This is a really low budget film with enormous results. The viewer is brought very near to the everyday life of the locals as they are left to speak and tell their own story. Past and present, ancient and modern are skillfully juxtaposed. The narrator is observing in a knowledgeable and critical yet not in an assertive manner. This is a film about the survival of human dignity and civilization. Raw and eloquent at the same time!
5 Reviews
History lesson
opsimous28 February 2004
Outstanding!!! Perhaps the best documentary ever shot in the history of Greek cinematography. With a humble and tender look the director takes a look at the life of people of Elefsina, a city divided between antiquity and modern times as shown through the ruins revealed each time a new building is raised, although the course towards modernization is irreversible.The film displays the dignity of local people as well as their pride of being residents of this historic site. It also displays their awareness of the historic importance of the place they live. This is shown especially as the director watches an old homeless man ,illiterate perhaps, who collected stones from ancient monuments and carried them to the the Archaeological Museum without anyone to tell him to do so. In my opinion every teacher should take his pupils or students to the cinema to watch it. Sometimes history lessons are not always given in the classroom!
where everything Greek stands for everything human
fragagou25 May 2008
not another documentary....Did you know that the Greek word for "truth" is "aleethea" which comes from "a" and "Lethe",meaning "the one that is not forgotten"? So true is something that you never forget, like your true love... A Greek cinematographer, films during a period of 15 or something years, the Eleysina area of modern Greece, mother place of the ancient apocrypha eleysinian mysteries,which nobody ,even in our days knows in what exactly they consisted of.. The place is a character itself, and even thought it has been altered irreversibly by the heavy modern industrialization, it remains ancient, morally clean, observing modern history, silently. The deepest message of the film thought, is in this: In its love towards the ordinary people that live in this area, that are born, play games at their childhood, get in love during their puberty,grow up, become old, and die.While watching the film we slowly realize that the ancient Greeks are not dead at all.Their customs, their problems, agonies,love for beauty and truth are still so alive. Every time i watch this film, i feel so beautifully strange..It is a film about resurrection after all...Have faith my friends..Have hope.
A rear creation of ... everything about our existence
diam28 October 2005
This is an amazing Documentary film. It took about 10 year to shoot. Persons, actual every day people, appear in various ages. It speaks about Greece ancient ruins, the way they speak to anyone of us, the philosophical consideration of our own existence, not relevant to ones education but the touching feelings of ancient whispering spirit. You can't talk about it. You have to watch it. No effort is needed. It speaks directly to you. The director follows the excavation steps taken to uncover a Necropolis (Cemetery) just next to our homes, flats, yards. Even though everything seems ordinary, the Toombs reveal bones and gifts for the down word undertaker. People irrelevant to the scientific world try to save the ruins from becoming a new profit cause of real estate. The fate is unbeatable. Ten years later all lost. Greece is full up of ruins. Ancient and modern. Dead with life and stoned living. Nothing in the filming is planned. Just a documentary shooting but with a big difference to discover.
Let's be brief in order to give a good and comprehensive analysis.
tankace24 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
In English the name is "The laugh-less stone" and it is a stone in Eleusina and it was sacred for it was part of the Greek mythology. As for the area that this documentary takes place, Eleusina is one of the most industrialized places in Attica and Greece in general and at same time one of the most historic places for this area is linked with the Classical Greece.
And the main themes, which are depicted in a very mature and subtle way is the clash between the ever consuming way of our modern life (or in this case the nineties, but he same can apply even for today) and the traditions of the area and the progress against the preservation of our past. And especial weight is put out the stories of the people who live in this area, during the decade that this documentary was in the making, and there are quit fascinating for you can get why they are concern not only the older generation, but the youth as well.
This is an issue for many cities in Greece as most cities have been built literary over the ancient remains ,with little or no planing so it is common place to see for instance train stations side by side part of ancient rode.
Over all it is highly recommended and if you want to see how Greek society is the way it is this is a good point of reference.
And the main themes, which are depicted in a very mature and subtle way is the clash between the ever consuming way of our modern life (or in this case the nineties, but he same can apply even for today) and the traditions of the area and the progress against the preservation of our past. And especial weight is put out the stories of the people who live in this area, during the decade that this documentary was in the making, and there are quit fascinating for you can get why they are concern not only the older generation, but the youth as well.
This is an issue for many cities in Greece as most cities have been built literary over the ancient remains ,with little or no planing so it is common place to see for instance train stations side by side part of ancient rode.
Over all it is highly recommended and if you want to see how Greek society is the way it is this is a good point of reference.
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