It has just occurred to me that something terribly wrong with that list: it excludes Michael Cacoyannis' adaptation of Euripides' Iphigenia (from the play Iphigenia at Aulis). Yes, the film is somewhat melodramatic, but this is Greek tragedy, after all. It is a brilliant critique of religion capitalizing on the mindless cruelty of humans.
Best of all, Cacoyannis leaves out the deus ex machina at the end of the original (which I think is purely ironic anyway-- Euripides being the trickiest of the Greek tragedians-- you can't take everything he says at face value). The shock of the ending is only greater because of it. Irene Papas is brilliant, even terrifying with an almost superhuman grief and rage. You know in that final scene that when Agamemnon returns from Troy, he is going to catch hell (and he does).
Best of all, Cacoyannis leaves out the deus ex machina at the end of the original (which I think is purely ironic anyway-- Euripides being the trickiest of the Greek tragedians-- you can't take everything he says at face value). The shock of the ending is only greater because of it. Irene Papas is brilliant, even terrifying with an almost superhuman grief and rage. You know in that final scene that when Agamemnon returns from Troy, he is going to catch hell (and he does).
“Society is not a disease, it is a disaster. What a stupid miracle that one can live in it.” ~ E.M. Cioran
