LANDSCAPE IN THE MIST is a film about the void. It is a film about despair, about the failure of contemporary society. The prodigal father who figures in almost every Angelopoulos film here has evaporated into his mythical essence - leaving his children to become the wanderers in search of him. In the «chaos», two children appear, little Alexandros and his older sister Voula. In order to exorcise their loneliness, they invent a secret universe for themselves, inhabited by their dreams. Every night they go to a train station to watch the departure of a train to Germany, where they have been deceived by their mother (herself an off-screen presence) into believing that their absent father is living. One night they finally dare to get on the train. But their voyage turns out to be hazardous and pointless and disappointing. They confront suffering, physical and moral illness, jealousy, evil and death, if also love - as many ordeals and rites as initiations. Evading the half-hearted pursuit of the police and uncaring relatives, sneak onto trains, hitchhike in vans and lorries, and suffering poverty, rape and exploitation, take a dangerous leap of faith, an eerie plunge into liberation and danger. The familiar Greek landscape - the cafes, the depopulated towns and deserted beaches - are played for a strangely harsh fairytale quality, seen through the eyes of two children whose introduction to the real world borders on the surreal. The film is filled with extraordinary, unforgettable moments that are at once real and hallucinatory and contains intriguing references to other Angelopoulos' films. The children even encounter the Travelling Players now, thirteen years later, without a stage to act on, their costumes put up for sale. At the end Alexandros tells Voula the same story from Genesis that she told him at the start: «In the beginning there was chaos.» The children do finally reach the border, but of course there is no border with Germany and perhaps the river they cross is actually the Styx and perhaps their whole journey was a search for order in a chaotic world..
Η Βούλα κι ο Αλέξανδρος είναι δυο παιδιά, αδέλφια, που ο πατέρας τους δουλεύει μετανάστης στη Γερμανία. Αυτή, τουλάχιστον, είναι η απάντηση που τους δίνει η μητέρα τους όταν εκείνα τον αναζητούν. Μια μέρα, επιβιβάζονται σ' ένα τρένο που νομίζουν ότι θα τους μεταφέρει στη Γερμανία. Το ταξίδι τους δε φαίνεται να πραγματοποιείται. Ο προορισμός απομακρύνεται όσο τα παιδιά εμπλέκονται σε μια διαρκή αντιπαράθεση με την πραγματικότητα, που τους «καθυστερεί» σε διάφορους ενδιάμεσους σταθμούς κατά μήκος της χώρας. Μετά από μια σκληρή περιπλάνηση στη ζωή και την ενηλικίωση, θα φτάσουν σ' εκείνο το σύνορο, πέρα απ' το οποίο πιστεύουν ότι θα βρουν τελικά έναν πατέρα, που αντιπροσωπεύει γι' αυτά μια ελπίδα. Αν, μετά την έρημη και παρακμασμένη χώρα που διέτρεξαν, υπάρχει η «Γερμανία» πέρα απ' αυτό το σύνορο, τότε υπάρχει ελπίδα τα παιδιά να βρουν μόνα τους το δρόμο για να βγουν απ΄ τον δικό μας χαοτικό κόσμο.
- Silver Lion Award for Best Director, Venice Film Festival 1988
- Felix (Best European Film of the Year) Award 1989
- Golden Hugo Award for Best Director, Silver Plaque for Best Cinematography, Chicago Film Festival.
- Cast: Tania Palaiologou, Michalis Zeke, Stratos Tzortzoglou
- Directed by Theo Angelopoulos
- Screenplay: Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra, Thanassis Valtinos
- Music: Eleni Karaindrou
- Cinematography: Giorgos Arvanitis
- First release: 1988
- Duration: 125'
- Number of dvd: 1
- Region: 2 (Europe) PAL dvd9
- Sound: Dolby digital surround
- Picture: 16:9 - 1:78 color
- Language: Greek
- Subtitles: English, French
Digitally remastered from the original 35mm negative print. Transfer supervised by Theo Angelopoulos. |