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In conversation | The Cretan point of view

Scenes from
the shooting of
“Kazantzakis”.
Σκηνές από
τα γυρίσματα
της ταινίας
«Καζαντζάκης».
How about some backstage moments?
Two of them are the most striking to me. The one is when
we ended shooting the scene with Psaltis. When his wife
told him that I was crying while he acted, he came to me –he
knew that he would leave this world in a few days–, he held
me close to his shoulder like a baby and went “Aww, my
Yanni...”. The other is the last scene of Odysseas Papaspili-
opoulos with Marina Kalogirou, where they know that they
will take the trip that means death and he tells her “whatever
will be, will be. We will try to make each moment an eterni-
ty.” After their embrace, I was supposed to shout “cut” from
the monitor room, but I just couldn’t. Neither the actors or
the crew knew what to do next. At some point sobs where
heard, and then they understood that I was crying. When
they came close to me, I told them: “Elytis says that tears are
also a homeland that is never lost.” These are moments I
“The Last Temptation”, he was obsessed with will never forget.
Jesus Christ. They called him a blasphemer,
but they were ignorant, they hadn’t read his What connects Kazantzakis’s personality with the Cre-
work. He was concerned with Jesus Christ be- tan soul?
cause He is the Son of God that became hu- He is the soul of Crete. His philosophy is the Cretan point
man in order to follow the life of humans. He of view that is summarized like this: “Life is an uphill road
therefore had to suffer the “trial”, and the way which you must walk in dignity and bravery.” Without any
He faces it is of utmost importance. And Jesus intent to insult anyone, we, the Cretans, have an extra lay-
suffered it patiently. Kazantzakis faced all that er of culture compared to the rest of the Greeks. It’s the Mi-
criticism in the same way. He used an amaz- noan Civilization. The frescoes of the Minoan culture do
ing phrase: There is a universal law which says not illustrate weapons. Peace lasted no less than two thou-
that the Evil wins but in the end it is defeat- sand years for the Minoans. What is more, you can see fly-
ed. “If you are on the Good side, you cannot ing gurnards in the Cretan frescoes, fish that try to fly.
be defeated.” And he did so, with excellent life Kazantzakis tried to illustrate this Minoan attribute, pre-
examples. senting humans as the heroic element of Crete. Like the flying

66 GREC14N 2018