A very beautiful film reminder of the classical "Black Narcissus" with an incredible photography of Marcus Waterloo and a haunting atmosphere. The double identities of the two protagonists is very well rendered and their desire to escape from the emotional prison that circumstances have thrown them into. The music and the sound track of night birds, wind and silence give the film an unusual texture. If it is a first film, it is very promising as the actor direction is excellent and effective, the choice of location and the erotic and religious feel that emanate from this film show that the director has a very good potential to make another work of art.
4 Reviews
A love story of hypnotic resonance
wentworthstreet8 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I am grateful to the person who uploaded this wonderful film to YouTube. I watched it a couple of nights ago after it appeared in the Recommendations section.
This atmospheric, beautifully shot film opens with a badly injured man on horseback fleeing for his life. We learn from the film's prologue that we are in Ottoman ruled Greece in 1654. The unnamed man is a Janissary, a Greek Orthodox Christian child abducted by the Ottomans to fight in their Muslim army.
The Janissary and his horse collapse from exhaustion outside a Convent where they are found by the nuns. Fearful of the man, they chain him up and attend to his wounds. They also dispose of the man's dead horse.
The Mother Superior is very protective of a young nun named Anthi and does not want her to assist with caring for the Janissary. Pelagia, a nun with medical experience treats him but allows Anthi to sit with the man whenever she needs to take a break.
It is clear that the quiet, shy Anthi is fascinated by the man and he seems to understand her innocence and fragility. He doesn't try to frighten her but he does ask her to help him escape. In the meantime, Pelagia has a sexual encounter with the Janissary.
Anthi does eventually release the man and they both escape into a seemingly enchanted forest. Unlike his tryst with Pelagia, there is a deeper emotional connection between the man and Anthi. This eventually leads to a physical encounter which reveals Anthi to be a young man. The Mother Superior was the only person who knew Anthi's secret.
Initially angry and repulsed by Anthi, the man develops a protective attitude towards her and realises that she was being protected by the Convent to prevent her abduction by the Ottomans. Anthi tells the man that she wants to be different and he tries to help her. Not long after this, they are both captured by Ottoman soldiers. The Convent pay the soldiers a ransom for Anthi's return but the Janissary is held captive by the Ottomans. We learn that the Janissary is a deserter from the Ottoman army. His captors tell him he is one of their best soldiers and they want him back. While he is held captive, he continues to think about his encounter with Anthi.
Anthi manages to sneak out of the Convent and helps the man to kill his captors. Once again they escape to the forest and, for what is very probably the first time for both of them, they give in to their true nature. Initially brutal, it becomes a beautiful and powerful expression of love, longing and release.
This film was an unexpected treat. Wonderful performances, sympathetic direction and stunning cinematography. The chemistry between the two leads is magnetic. However, Anthi was actually played by a woman rather than a man. I wonder if the chemistry/intimacy would have differed in any way had the two lead actors both been men rather than a man and a woman.
This atmospheric, beautifully shot film opens with a badly injured man on horseback fleeing for his life. We learn from the film's prologue that we are in Ottoman ruled Greece in 1654. The unnamed man is a Janissary, a Greek Orthodox Christian child abducted by the Ottomans to fight in their Muslim army.
The Janissary and his horse collapse from exhaustion outside a Convent where they are found by the nuns. Fearful of the man, they chain him up and attend to his wounds. They also dispose of the man's dead horse.
The Mother Superior is very protective of a young nun named Anthi and does not want her to assist with caring for the Janissary. Pelagia, a nun with medical experience treats him but allows Anthi to sit with the man whenever she needs to take a break.
It is clear that the quiet, shy Anthi is fascinated by the man and he seems to understand her innocence and fragility. He doesn't try to frighten her but he does ask her to help him escape. In the meantime, Pelagia has a sexual encounter with the Janissary.
Anthi does eventually release the man and they both escape into a seemingly enchanted forest. Unlike his tryst with Pelagia, there is a deeper emotional connection between the man and Anthi. This eventually leads to a physical encounter which reveals Anthi to be a young man. The Mother Superior was the only person who knew Anthi's secret.
Initially angry and repulsed by Anthi, the man develops a protective attitude towards her and realises that she was being protected by the Convent to prevent her abduction by the Ottomans. Anthi tells the man that she wants to be different and he tries to help her. Not long after this, they are both captured by Ottoman soldiers. The Convent pay the soldiers a ransom for Anthi's return but the Janissary is held captive by the Ottomans. We learn that the Janissary is a deserter from the Ottoman army. His captors tell him he is one of their best soldiers and they want him back. While he is held captive, he continues to think about his encounter with Anthi.
Anthi manages to sneak out of the Convent and helps the man to kill his captors. Once again they escape to the forest and, for what is very probably the first time for both of them, they give in to their true nature. Initially brutal, it becomes a beautiful and powerful expression of love, longing and release.
This film was an unexpected treat. Wonderful performances, sympathetic direction and stunning cinematography. The chemistry between the two leads is magnetic. However, Anthi was actually played by a woman rather than a man. I wonder if the chemistry/intimacy would have differed in any way had the two lead actors both been men rather than a man and a woman.
One of the best Greek Drama films ever!
eudoxios759 March 2018
I loved that movie! Excellent performances! Very beautiful set! An Oscar movie in my opinion! The story in about a Greek monastery during the period of the Ottoman occupation of Greece in 17th century and it is about the quirky relationship between a nun and a ganissar ( elite infantry soldier that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards . Ganissars first began as an elite corps of slaves made up of kidnapped young Christian boys from all the Balkans and were given the choice to convert to Islam, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order)
The location of the film is much challenging . The actors are great and the filmmakers succeed with minimal means to represent successfully the historical period. Remarkably, lyrical shots reveal the magnificence of nature and create a beautiful atmosphere. In "Black meadow" don't fit neither religions nor armies. Only rebellious souls returning to nature along with their wild instincts
The location of the film is much challenging . The actors are great and the filmmakers succeed with minimal means to represent successfully the historical period. Remarkably, lyrical shots reveal the magnificence of nature and create a beautiful atmosphere. In "Black meadow" don't fit neither religions nor armies. Only rebellious souls returning to nature along with their wild instincts
A movie of fearful beauty.
CityCalmDown-24 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Possibly the most enigmatic moment of this movie is the final scene. At least that was the subject of discussion when I saw this movie with other members of an informal film society. I will attempt to provide an interpretation of the meaning of the final scene here.
This film's cultural setting and subject matter is an exploration of Greek Orthodox Christian culture, religious history, experience and practices. In addition, there is the historical setting of Greece during the period when under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The main aspects of Orthodoxy which are explored are the monastic, ascetic practices of the Nunnery and the experiences of Mysticism. The high level of cinematic aestheticism is reflective of mysticism and Orthodox aestheticism, specifically icon paintings, architecture etc.
In particular, emphasis is given to the nexus between asceticism, ecstasy (Anthi's self-harm leading to his/her ecstatic, visionary states) and eroticism. Cf. E.g. Teresa of Avila's self-harming asceticism; the erotic language in which Teresa described the love of Christ that she experienced in her mystical states and visions.
The film features a number of rectangular rooms and spaces which resemble the tomb of Christ. Cells in which the inhabitant is shown sleeping or wounded (i.e. In a deathlike state) and from which they are resurrected.
The Janissary is chained. He is healed and escapes.
Anthi's cell is a scene of regular nocturnal self-harming ascetic practices that are the path to experience mystical visions and dreams. Anthi was an orphan initially sheltered by the nunnery, but the nunnery has become a prison and a tomb from which s/he must escape. Both the Janissary and Anthi find escape and resurrection in the woods near the nunnery. In an earlier dream of Anthi's s/he dreamt of woods and water in a dream in which Salvation and natural imagery were combined.
The imagery of the woods also opens out into a pagan, naturalistic world and reminds us of the pagan elements which have always accompanied and been syncretized into Christianity.
Anthi is intersex as is evidenced by the fact that despite appearing to be his/her late teens, early twenties, Anthi has no facial hair even after spending days in the woods and there are no signs on her/his face of ever having been shaved.
Once the imagery of tombs and resurrection is established, there occurs a scene in which the proud, worldly nun who became pregnant hangs herself. The nun's suicide is immediately followed by a wake - another type of resurrection - performed by the rest of the nuns. The music of the nuns' wake is a heavy, hard rhythmical music of banging metal cups upon the table which perhaps resembles the rhythmic blues of Black Christian USA in a world separated by history and distance but not wholly dissimilar(?).
This brings us to the final chapters of the film leading to the final scene. The Janissary and Anthi choose to turn away from the temporal world entirely and instead head back to the woods and the river. (N. B. at that point, a great deal of wealth had suddenly fallen into their hands. The bag of gold coins; the expensive and difficult to obtain Janissary long-distance scout and pursuit horses in addition to new load-bearing pack horses; the high social-status symbols of the Janissary arms and armour; tents and travelling gear with which they could make good their escape.)
Anthi and the Janissary turn their back on all of this and instead head into the woods.
The eventual physical consummation of their relationship is just as awkward, dissonant and discordant as their relationship has been throughout. On this point - as well on Anthi's gender identity - cf. E.g. Lacan's and Zizek's "there is no sexual relationship".
To be part of a romantic couple is not the object of Anthi's quest. Nor that of the Janissary who runs away and disappears.
Anthi then rises and searches the woods. S/he finds a tree which s/he circles. Her/his face lights up. The camera then shows us what s/he saw that gave her/him the object of her/his quest. S/he sees an image of her/him self looking back as if reflected in an interior mirror. To this point in her/his life there was no unity and identity of self-hood.
S/he then enters into another enclosed space. The hollow of the ancient tree that s/he had been circling. S/he lies down within its embrace in sanctum and in solace. As with the previous spaces, we know s/he will be resurrected and find salvation.
On this note of salvation and rebirth the film ends.
This film's cultural setting and subject matter is an exploration of Greek Orthodox Christian culture, religious history, experience and practices. In addition, there is the historical setting of Greece during the period when under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The main aspects of Orthodoxy which are explored are the monastic, ascetic practices of the Nunnery and the experiences of Mysticism. The high level of cinematic aestheticism is reflective of mysticism and Orthodox aestheticism, specifically icon paintings, architecture etc.
In particular, emphasis is given to the nexus between asceticism, ecstasy (Anthi's self-harm leading to his/her ecstatic, visionary states) and eroticism. Cf. E.g. Teresa of Avila's self-harming asceticism; the erotic language in which Teresa described the love of Christ that she experienced in her mystical states and visions.
The film features a number of rectangular rooms and spaces which resemble the tomb of Christ. Cells in which the inhabitant is shown sleeping or wounded (i.e. In a deathlike state) and from which they are resurrected.
The Janissary is chained. He is healed and escapes.
Anthi's cell is a scene of regular nocturnal self-harming ascetic practices that are the path to experience mystical visions and dreams. Anthi was an orphan initially sheltered by the nunnery, but the nunnery has become a prison and a tomb from which s/he must escape. Both the Janissary and Anthi find escape and resurrection in the woods near the nunnery. In an earlier dream of Anthi's s/he dreamt of woods and water in a dream in which Salvation and natural imagery were combined.
The imagery of the woods also opens out into a pagan, naturalistic world and reminds us of the pagan elements which have always accompanied and been syncretized into Christianity.
Anthi is intersex as is evidenced by the fact that despite appearing to be his/her late teens, early twenties, Anthi has no facial hair even after spending days in the woods and there are no signs on her/his face of ever having been shaved.
Once the imagery of tombs and resurrection is established, there occurs a scene in which the proud, worldly nun who became pregnant hangs herself. The nun's suicide is immediately followed by a wake - another type of resurrection - performed by the rest of the nuns. The music of the nuns' wake is a heavy, hard rhythmical music of banging metal cups upon the table which perhaps resembles the rhythmic blues of Black Christian USA in a world separated by history and distance but not wholly dissimilar(?).
This brings us to the final chapters of the film leading to the final scene. The Janissary and Anthi choose to turn away from the temporal world entirely and instead head back to the woods and the river. (N. B. at that point, a great deal of wealth had suddenly fallen into their hands. The bag of gold coins; the expensive and difficult to obtain Janissary long-distance scout and pursuit horses in addition to new load-bearing pack horses; the high social-status symbols of the Janissary arms and armour; tents and travelling gear with which they could make good their escape.)
Anthi and the Janissary turn their back on all of this and instead head into the woods.
The eventual physical consummation of their relationship is just as awkward, dissonant and discordant as their relationship has been throughout. On this point - as well on Anthi's gender identity - cf. E.g. Lacan's and Zizek's "there is no sexual relationship".
To be part of a romantic couple is not the object of Anthi's quest. Nor that of the Janissary who runs away and disappears.
Anthi then rises and searches the woods. S/he finds a tree which s/he circles. Her/his face lights up. The camera then shows us what s/he saw that gave her/him the object of her/his quest. S/he sees an image of her/him self looking back as if reflected in an interior mirror. To this point in her/his life there was no unity and identity of self-hood.
S/he then enters into another enclosed space. The hollow of the ancient tree that s/he had been circling. S/he lies down within its embrace in sanctum and in solace. As with the previous spaces, we know s/he will be resurrected and find salvation.
On this note of salvation and rebirth the film ends.
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