It says something that other reviewers are recalling this film after 30 or more years. It's like that with me too. Goodness knows how long ago I saw this, but it has haunted me for years.
This film alone marks Anthony Quinn out as a truly great film actor. Never mind Zorba the Greek - all he did in that was be exuberant. Here his face carries complexities of suffering, confusion and other emotions.
In this film he plays the little man buffeted by forces not only beyond his control but beyond his imagination, an eternal victim, one of the flotsam and jetsam of war. Never mind the details, if this film makes you think, it will be about displaced persons, chaos, disruption of lives, and the triumph of the human spirit. I did not realise that Michael Redgrave was even in this film until reading the credits today - never mind who plays other parts, it is Quinn, the screenplay and the direction that win the Oscar for me.
This film alone marks Anthony Quinn out as a truly great film actor. Never mind Zorba the Greek - all he did in that was be exuberant. Here his face carries complexities of suffering, confusion and other emotions.
In this film he plays the little man buffeted by forces not only beyond his control but beyond his imagination, an eternal victim, one of the flotsam and jetsam of war. Never mind the details, if this film makes you think, it will be about displaced persons, chaos, disruption of lives, and the triumph of the human spirit. I did not realise that Michael Redgrave was even in this film until reading the credits today - never mind who plays other parts, it is Quinn, the screenplay and the direction that win the Oscar for me.