The first part of an incomplete trilogy telling the story of the greek people. The film begins in 1919, with Greek immigrants from Odessa arriving near Thessaloniki. Led by the charismatic Spyros, they establish a new settlement in the delta of a river. The youngest of the settlers are Spyros' son Alexis and an orphan from Odessa, Eleni. A strong, almost incestuous affection develops between the teenagers, resulting in twins who are given to a foster family. Also standing in the way of love is Spyros, determined to take his foster daughter as his wife. The lovers then decide to flee the village, persecuted by their father, leading a life of exile. As Alexis joins a group of musicians planning to go to the United States, Eleni regains custody of the twins. Angelopoulos, as in previous films, looks at the sacrifice of civilians confronted by the workers' demonstrations of 1935, the rule of Metaxas' fascist junta and forced emigration to America, and finally the civil war of 1944-1949.
Directing | Theo Angelopoulos | Director |
Writing | Theo Angelopoulos | Writer |
Camera | Andreas Sinanos | Director of Photography |
Production | Jean Labadie | Co-Producer |
Writing | Tonino Guerra | Writer |
Production | Giorgio Silvagni | Co-Producer |
Production | Harris Papadopoulos | Casting |
Production | Theo Angelopoulos | Producer |
Costume & Make-Up | Ioulia Stavridou | Costume Design |
Production | Amedeo Pagani | Co-Producer |
Art | Giorgos Patsas | Set Decoration |
Production | Kostas Kefalas | Line Producer |
Production | Phoebe Economopoulos | Associate Producer |
Sound | Eleni Karaindrou | Original Music Composer |
Writing | Giorgio Silvagni | Writer |
Art | Kostas Lambropoulos | Production Design |
Art | Costas Dimitriadis | Set Decoration |
Production | Meinolf Zurhorst | Producer |
Production | Nikos Sekeris | Executive Producer |
Editing | Giorgos Triandafyllou | Editor |
Writing | Petros Markaris | Writer |
Production | Peter Nadermann | Producer |
Production | Reinhold Elschot | Producer |
Production | Foivi Oikonomopoulou | Executive Producer |