Theo Angelopoulos is probably along with Tarkovsky and Antonioni the most overrated director of modern cinema and this one is one of his worst movies.
During his long and rather successful career he used to do the same thing again and again. He was lucky, because the cultural environment in Greece after the fall of the junta was rather art house friendly and he became quite easily the archbishop of "serious" cinema in that little and backward land of the Balkans.
His movies are copycats, or rather pastiches of works by other directors. A bit of Antonioni, a touch of Bergman, a lot of Tarkovsky blended with traditional greek movies and sights of the greek countryside. Let's see a bit closer this movie.
The script is minimal, or rather trivial. Spyros, a retired teacher marries his beloved daughter and then sets off on a journey with his bees (!!!) following the track of the flowers. During his journey he encounters other beekeepers, who protest for the slow death of their craft. Spyros is desperate and has lost his will for life. But suddenly appears a young girl, who follows him. She is a beauty and he falls in love, but in the end he lets her go anf commits suicide by letting his bees attack to him.
Only by reading this synopsis someone can understand that the movie has similarities with some movies directed by Antonioni and Tarkovsky. Of course it is not unusual for an artist to pay tribute to other creators. The problem here lies to the point that Angelopoulos just pays tribute. He doesn't have anything to express. This is a bad movie and a waste of time.
During his long and rather successful career he used to do the same thing again and again. He was lucky, because the cultural environment in Greece after the fall of the junta was rather art house friendly and he became quite easily the archbishop of "serious" cinema in that little and backward land of the Balkans.
His movies are copycats, or rather pastiches of works by other directors. A bit of Antonioni, a touch of Bergman, a lot of Tarkovsky blended with traditional greek movies and sights of the greek countryside. Let's see a bit closer this movie.
The script is minimal, or rather trivial. Spyros, a retired teacher marries his beloved daughter and then sets off on a journey with his bees (!!!) following the track of the flowers. During his journey he encounters other beekeepers, who protest for the slow death of their craft. Spyros is desperate and has lost his will for life. But suddenly appears a young girl, who follows him. She is a beauty and he falls in love, but in the end he lets her go anf commits suicide by letting his bees attack to him.
Only by reading this synopsis someone can understand that the movie has similarities with some movies directed by Antonioni and Tarkovsky. Of course it is not unusual for an artist to pay tribute to other creators. The problem here lies to the point that Angelopoulos just pays tribute. He doesn't have anything to express. This is a bad movie and a waste of time.