Theodoros Angelopoulos was one of the most important directors in world cinema history. He was one of the most important figures in the history of cinema, a personality who transcended the boundaries of his art and managed to turn cinema into poetry, a meditation on history, memory and human existence. A Greek creator to the core, Angelopoulos spoke of Greece not only as a geographical space but as a symbol, as a place full of wounds and beauty, memories and hope.

His cinema was characterised by slow pacing, long one-shots, poetic storytelling and an emblematic use of natural landscape. He was, as many described him, the “poet of the image”, a filmmaker who could transform silence and anticipation into deep human emotions.

From Athens to Paris and back

Theodoros Angelopoulos was born in Athens in 1935. His childhood was marked by the war, the Occupation and the Civil War. The trauma of this period was indelibly imprinted in his work, which from the very beginning revealed an anxiety about history and human destiny. He said: “From a young age I lived with the stories of my father, who returned from exile. I grew up in a country that had lost its innocence”.

He initially studied law at the University of Athens, but his passion for cinema soon led him to Paris, where he studied at the legendary IDHEC (Institute for Advanced Film Studies). At the same time, he took courses in philosophy and aesthetics at the Sorbonne, alongside important thinkers of the time, such as Althusser and Lefort.

His return to Greece in 1964 found him ready to create. He starts as a film critic for the newspaper Demokratiki Allangii, and in 1970 he makes his directorial debut with Anastastasis, a film that will immediately establish him as a leading figure of the new Greek cinema.

Cinema as History and Poetry

From the very beginning, Angelopoulos reveals a deep concern for history and collective memory. Theiasos (1975), one of his masterpieces, is an allegory of 20th century Greece through the travelogue of a theatre group travelling through the country from 1939 to 1952. The film captured one of the most violent and traumatic periods in Greek history and won international acclaim.

It was followed by The Hunters (1977), a meditation on guilt and historical consciousness, and Megalexander (1980), a myth about power and freedom. He believed that “history is a dream that comes back, like a nightmare many times over”, and this was reflected in every frame of his films.

In 1995, with “Ulysses’ Gaze”, Angelopoulos toured the Balkans, searching, like his hero (Harvey Keitel), for the roots of memory and image. In 1998 came the ultimate triumph with “An Eternity and a Day”, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and moved international audiences. “I believe that what we call eternity is nothing but a moment that lasts forever,” he declared in an interview after the award.

His cinematic universe
Theodoros Angelopoulos created his own, recognizable cinematic world. His films are spread out in long mono-planes, choreographed camera movements that follow the heroes on their paths towards the unknown or towards an unfulfilled dream.

His images are filled with the presence of landscape: water, rain, fog, the river, the snowy plain. His people are often lonely figures, travelling in search of a lost place or a homeland that no longer exists. As he used to say, “My heroes are wanderers. People in transition. They are searching for something they have lost or never had.”

Sound and music play a crucial role in his films, with his collaboration with Eleni Karaindrou being emblematic. Karaindrou’s music accompanies the journeys and loneliness of his heroes, intensifying the sense of lost time and nostalgia.

The man behind the camera

Despite the strictness and perfectionism attributed to him by his colleagues, Angelopoulos was a deep humanist. He believed in cinema as a medium that could change our view of the world and of ourselves. His words always resonate with his concern for Man and his history: “Europe has lost its vision. Europe has lost its vision. We must rebuild a new vision, otherwise all is lost.

His collaborators, such as director of photography George Arvanitis and editor Gianna Spiliopoulou, speak of a director who left nothing to chance. He worked every shot as if it were the whole film, seeking the perfect harmony between image, sound and emotion.

The legacy and eternity

Theodoros Angelopoulos passed away suddenly in January 2012, swept away by a vehicle while shooting his last film, “The Other Sea”. His loss caused deep sadness, not only in Greece but also in the entire international film community.

His films are taught in film schools around the world, while film festivals often dedicate screening cycles to his work. He believed that “art never ends,” and indeed, his work remains alive, relevant and timeless.

Angelopoulos was not just a director, but a poet of cinema, a creator who turned the image into a dream language and history into a personal experience. As he once said, “Reality is always a piece of mythology, as long as you can see it.”

And he, “Ulysses’ gaze”, kept it open to the end.