Heroic Identity in the Dilessi Affair, Aris Velouhiotis, and Alexander: A Reading of Angelopoulos's Megalexandros
Theodoras Angelopoulos's 1980 film Megalexandros has been linked to a variety of influences, from the homecoming of Agamemnon to the shadow puppet theater of Karagiozis, but with little attempt to puzzle out the nature of those influences or how they work in the film. The film itself, while appreciated for its striking photography and its powerful mise en scene - almost sufficient in themselves to carry the film - is characterized by an almost incomprehensible plot line, even if one avails oneself of Angelopoulos's coauthored print version of the script. It is interesting in this regard to trace the scenes that the script indicates have been cut from the film but which nevertheless are reinserted in some form to rescue the film - unsuccessfully some might say - from almost total incoherence.The purpose of this paper is to clarify the many influences - the Dilessi affair, the historical events of Megalexandros, the resistance figure Aris Velouhiotis, and the Karagiozis shadow puppet theater performance (the classics we shall leave to other hands) - and while doing so to provide an informed reading of the film's treatment of heroic identity. To avoid confusion, I shall refer to the bandit figure in the film as Alexander and to the Hellenistic hero as Megalexandros.I. The Dilessi AffairAngelopoulos's film relies upon two significant events in Greek history, the life of the Helienistic hero Alexander the Great (largely through Byzantine myths and popular tales) and the nineteenth-century kidnapping by bandits of elite English visitors to Greece in 1870, called the Dilessi affair after the name of the town on the east coast of mainland Greece where the hostages were murdered. The events of the Dilessi affair structure the events of the film, while the Alexander myth informs the construction of the hero. The modern guise of the hero incorporates, as well, elements of a hero of the twentieth-century popular front resistance movement (Aris Velouhiotis) and techniques of the Greek shadow puppet theater (Karagiozis).The events of the Dilessi affair offer the kidnapping, ransom demands, and negotiations over the fate of the hostages and amnesty for the band; the presence of spies, intermediaries, and behind-the-scenes forces; and a set of primary players who include the Greek government, the English ambassador, the bandit chief, the landowners, and the political party in opposition to the government (which, in the film, operates largely as an unseen force). Unlike the historical case, the goal of the hostage-taking in the film is to force the government to return land taken from the peasants by the landlords in collusion with the state and foreign business interests. Alexander describes his justification for his banditry as state tyranny, having taken to the mountains because he could not find justice. In line with this construction, the hero does not demand ransom but, rather, asks for amnesty for himself, his band, and all those jailed in the struggle against the state.1 Like the Dilessi affair, the government in the film uses the excuse that the Greek constitution prohibits amnesty and, as the original bandits - the Arvanitis brothers - did in Dilessi, the bandits respond that if the people made the constitution, they can unmake it. The Engish ambassador's position is essentially adopted from the facts of the original case as well, for, as he claims in the film, the English have no interest in the Greek constitution, but only in the lives of the "subjects of the queen," warning Greece of the consequences should any harm befall them.From this point, the film essentially departs from the Dilessi script. Alexander astutely reminds his adversaries in the film that anti-European sentiment runs high among the common Greeks2 and that as time drags on the hostages are more likely to be sacrificed "for the prestige of the nation." The Prime Minister, with his army humiliated in a falled attempt to rescue the hostages and facing international pressure, gives his personal guarantee to an alternative plan: whereas Alexander cannot be amnestied, if he and his men submit to a trial they will be pardoned. …
The Films of Theo Angelopoulos: A Cinema of Contemplation
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Voyage beyond the Borders3Ch. 1Cinema and the Borders of Greek Culture25Ch. 2The Moving Pattern of Images: Greek History and Individual Perspectives55Ch. 3Angelopoulos, the Continuous Image, and Cinema73Ch. 4Reconstruction: "Help Me, I'm Lost"91Ch. 5The Travelling Players: Figures in the Landscape of Myth and History102Ch. 6Voyage to Cythera: "One ... Two ... Oh, My God. I'm Out of Step"127Ch. 7Landscape in the Mist: A Documentary Fairy Tale144Ch. 8The Suspended Step of the Stork: "If I Take One More Step, I Will Be Somewhere Else"161Ch. 9Ulysses' Gaze: "We Are Dying People"181Conclusions: From the Cinematic Gaze to a Culture of Links202Filmography211Bibliography217Index223
Improving water use in agriculture : experiences in the Middle East and North Africa
Emerging water shortages are of great concern in many countries of the region. As the agricultural sector is generally by far the most important water consumer and higher priority is given to meeting domestic and industrial water demands, it is to be expected that gradually less water will be available for agriculture. An overview is given of present system and on-farm water use efficiencies and the potential for water savings and yield increases through the use of improved distribution networks and more appropriate irrigation technologies for smallholders. The water conservation efforts of Israel, Cyprus and Jordan are examined in detail with respect to institutions, the irrigation infrastructure, water charges and demand management, operation and maintenance, irrigation scheduling and extension, technology development and transfer, the role of the private sector, quality control on irrigation equipment, land tenure and land consolidation, and water users associations. The World Bank's experience with lending for the irrigation sector in the region is also described. The elements that would need to be considered for inclusion in a national program for water conservation in the agricultural sector are identified.