MASTER'S THESIS M-1746
KALFOGLOU, Marios Stavros A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FILM ZORBA THE GREEK.
The American University, M.A., 1968 Speech-Theater
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OP THE FILM ZORBA t h e GREEK
oy
Marios Stavros Kalfoglou
Submitted to the
Faculty of the Department of Communication
of The American University
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree
of
Master of Arts
in
Broadcasting
Signatures o
Chairman:
Dean of the College
Date
IQGA AMERICAN UNIVERS!i Y ^ LIBRARY The American University rco , u iQfiQ Washington, D.C. r tlD J. 3 ia03 WASHINGTON. D. C.
J^o3
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... iv
INTRODUCTION ...... I
I. ZORBA- THE BOOK AND THE A U T H O R ...... 4
A. Nikos Kazantzakis, the Author ...... 4
B . Zorba the Greek, the B o o k ...... 19
1-. The p l o t ...... 19
2. The c h a r a c t e r s ...... 28
a. Mme Hortense and her
affair with Zorba .... 28
b. The widow: temptress
and v i c t i m ...... 35
c. Zaharias/joseph: the burning
of the monastery...... 52
II. ZORBA - THE FILM AND ITS C R E A T O R ...... 55
A. Michael Cacoyannis, Screenwriter, Director
and...... P r oducer...... 55
1...... Background...... 55
2. Cacoyannis and Zorba, the
germination of the f i l m ...... 65
B. Zorba the Greek, the F i l m ...... 72
1. Translation of book to film: po
tentialities and limitations . . . 72
2...... S e t t i n g ...... 80
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CHAPTER PAGE
3 . Casting and elimination of
c h a r a c t e r s ...... 83
4. Sequence in novel and film .... 99
5 . Treatment of major episodes in
novel and f i l m ...... IO9
a. The Zorba-Hortense affair . 110
b. The Widow-Basil affair . . . 123
c. The mining operation .... I36
III. CRITICAL TREATMENT AND CONTROVERSY IN GREECE
AND THE UNITED S T A T E S ...... l4l
A. General Bases of Criticism ...... l4l
B. Fidelity of Film to N o v e l ...... 142
C. The Issue of Barbarism: The Death Scenes
of Mne Hortense and the W i d o w ...... 153
D.The Actors and Their Performances .... I60
IV. CONCLUSIONS...... l64
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... I68
APPENDIX ...... 178
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For the preparation of this Thesis I am indebted to
many people. Many relatives and friends, both here and in
Greece, collected valuable material and/or discussed the
subject with me.
Among them, I wish to mention specifically my father,
Stavros Kalfoglou, who spent many hours in the National
Library of Greece copying laboriously from books, magazines
and newspapers; Miss Janet Lugo who helped me to crystallize
and express my ideas; my wj.fe Gudrun, who typed and retyped
the many drafts.
I am most particularly grateful to Dr. Roger Penn,
for all his assistance, guidance, advice and above all,
patience, during the endless months of preparing this paper.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION
March I965 was a turbulent month for the Greek cinema.
The film Zorba the Greek was released in the movie theatres
Ci Athens.
Reaction was Im.mediate, diversified and controversial.
Although premiered in Paris and the United States at approxi
mately the same time, it was to generate the greatest furor
of all in the country of its origin--Greeco.
So charged was the atmosphere in Greece that shortly
after its release a member of the Greek Parliament, infuriated
by the film, asked the Minister of Justice:
Whether according to articles 1, 2 and 14 of the Constitution he /the Minister/ would author ize the Public Prosecutor's office to prohibit the sliowing of the film, until some of the scenes and phrases in the movie which assailed the offi cial religion of the country could be removed.-
Such was the reaction of many Greeks to the film.
Controversy over the film did not diminish with the
passage of time. Illustrative of the feeling of many was a
reader's letter to one of the popular weekly magazines pub
lished in the Greek capital. The reader, in the opening
paragraph of his letter addressed to the Editor, said that
See the text of the pertinent articles of the Greek Constitution then in effect. Appendix. (This Constitution was partly suspended by the Greek Government at the time of this study and a referendum is pending on the adoption of a new one.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2
he took the liberty of writing since "It was a matter of
public rather than private concern." Without naming the
city where he lived as a "political refugee," he wrote that
the film Zorba the Greek was released there, and "as a Greek
first and a Cretan second I was Indignant, because of some 2 of the scenes in the film."
Written almost two years after the release of the
film, the letter indicates the staying power of the contro
versy over Zorba the Greek. Sensitive Greeks, and especially
sensitive Cretans, felt that the film adaptation of the novel
produced a damaging image of the people of Crete and the
Greek nation in general. '
If this criticism is valid, the condemnation of the
man responsible—might be justified. There Is also room for
the opinion that those who took offense to the film were
over-sensitive and immaturely over-patriotic and that Zorba
the Greek' s contribution to filmic art v/as significant and
valuable.
The purpose of this study Is to examine the trans
formation to film of a novel written by the Greek author
Nikos Kazantzakis under the title of The Life and Adventures
2 " ALaXoYOC II ^ toOc; ovayvOo'cq toü ' Taxuôp6|iou' ; 'Avoix^n 'S- -.LotoXi^ /Conversation with the readers: An open letter/ Tachydromos (December 24, 1966), p. 9 8 .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. o o of Alexis Zorba.^ The story was adapted, produced and
directed by the Greek moviemaker Michael Cacoyannis, and
released under the title Zorba the Greek.
The writer will al-so review the critical treatment
of the novel and the film in Greece and the United States
in order to compare and explain the various reactions in
the two countries.
Finally, this paper v;ill attempt to assess the
validity of the controversy over the film Zorba the Greek;
a controversy that was elevated even to the halls of the
Greek Parliament and that continued for an unwonted period
of almost two years.
^The English translation of the novel, like the film, appeared as Zorba the Greek.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I
ZORBA--THE BOOK AND THE AUTHOR
A. Nikos Kazantzakis, the Author
Nikos Kazantzakis' life span was seventy-four years.
He was fifty-eight when he began to write The Life and
Adventures of Alexis Zorba^, a book that represented a
turning point in his literary career. His earlier works
had been primarily philosophical and non-fictional. He
turned in earnest to the novelist's craft only after his
permanent self-exile from Greece, following World War II,
in the belief that this was the only effective medium for
the communication of his ideas to foreigners.
Zorba was Kazantzakis' first attempt at the novelistic
interpretation of the life and culture of his native land.
It is not, however, a conventional novel, nor was it written
as such. It contains at least as many elements of the
biographical and autobiographical as it does of the purely
fictional. It is based on an actual episode in the author's
life--an unsuccessful attempt to operate a lignite mine in
the Peloponnesus--and its two major characters, the Boss and
^This is the title of the original Greek version of the book translated into English as Zorba the Greek.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Zorba, are based on the personalities of two real people, 2 one of whom (the Boss) is the author himself. Kazantzakis
described the book as a "requiem to a friend," and in his
posthumously published, semi-fanciful memoir Report to Greco,^
describes Zorba as one of the people (together with Homer,
Buddha,Nietzsche and Bergson) who was "embedded most deeply
in my soul," adding that "if there had been any question in
my lifetime of choosing a spiritual guide, surely I would
have chosen Zorba.Since the novel, Zorba, is primarily
A study of the relationship between these two men and the
interplay of their personalities and their world-views, a
brief biographical sketch of the author as an individual
may serve as a helpful preliminary to the examination of the
book.
As to the other, Kazantzakis wrote: "Zorba was a real person. Everything described in that book is real. His name was George Zorbas, not Alexis. I have many letters from him. I might publish them some day. He was from Macedonia. His daughter is still alive, his grandchildren, and his son." Man. Yalourakis, XaÇavtçâHpc; ; Wta Mcpa otnv ’Av-cfim /Kazantzakis: One Day in Antibe_s7 (Alexandria; Egypt: Typographeion "Emporiou," 1964), p. 27.
3lbid., p. 26,
^Helen Kazantzakis, the author's widow, writes in the Introduction to Report to Greco that "the Report is a mixture of fact and fiction--a great deal of truth, a minimum of fancy .... When he speaks about others, it is always the truth, unaltered, exactly what he saw and heard. When he speaks of his personal adventures, there are some small modifications." Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco (trans. P.A. Bien); (New York: Bantam Books, 196b)', pp.' 3-4.
^Ibid.. p. 430.
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Nikos Kazantzakis was born on the island of Crete in
February, I883, at a time when that island was still subject
to the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of parents of sharply
contrasting background and personality. He himself describes
their two traditions .as_follows:
I look down into myself and shudder. On my father's side my ancestors were bloodthirsty pirates on water, warrior chieftains on land, fearing neither God nor man; on my mother's drab, goodly peasants who bowed trust fully over the soil the entire day, sowed, waited with confidence for rain and sun, reaped, and in the evening seated themselves on the stone bench in front of their ^ homes, folded their arms and placed their hopes in God.
The Kazantzakis parents followed the paths of their
ancestors. His mother, the son wrote, was a saintly woman.?
From her, the author inherited patience, endurance and
sweetness--qualities that, as he says, derive from the earth
itself, and which stood him in good stead in his chosen life
of I'homme de lettres. His father, on the other hand, was
the stern and taciturn paterfamilias who "spoke only rarely, g never laughed, never engaged in brawls"— and seldom deigned
to bestow a kind word on his family. Only twice does the
author remember his father's behaving with kindliness--once
towards his wife (the author's mother) and once toward Nikos
^Ibid., p. 19.
?Ibid., p. 29 .
^Ibid., p. 2 7 .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. himself. The son's attitude was ambivalent; he was at once 9 afraid of his father, whom he called "a lion," and proud
of him as an uncompromising patriot refusing' to. bow to the
people of another creed and language who ruled his beloved
Crete. In the novel Freedom or Death, Kazantzakis' father
is the hero--a fierce and fearless warrior in the island's 10 struggle for liberation from the Turk.
The son was the extreme opposite of his father, both
in character and in physical stamina. He was a tall, virile
man with a slim body and small eyes, gentle in manner, sub
missive and kind. While his father was an uneducated primi
tive with a violent nature, the son showed a strong scholarly
bent and a sensitivity bordering on cowardice:
Kazantzakis had a delicate, poetic soul; he was not made like those men who bear arms and gamble their lives, heads or tails. He never used a gun .... When he listened to tales about war, his heart trembled; he detested bloodshed, the killing of people--the massacre of war. If he had had to fight and to kill, he would have preferred to die. 11
Lile Zographou, a prominent literary woman of Greece, who
examined the inner world of Kazantzakis characterizes him
^Ibid., p. 29.
l^Nikos Kazantzakis. Freedom or Death (trans. J. Griffin); (New York: Simon & Schuster^ T55d ).
^^Yannis Anapliotis,'O 'AXnSivoq Zopicnâc xaC ô ïïïkoc Kat,avxt,d- ,.i.f/The Real Zorba and Nikos Kazantzaki/7 (Athens, Greece: "Dipïïros," i960), p. 32.
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as a cowardly man who never fought and always submitted. 12 "The fear of his father and of society made him run away."
Until his fourteenth year, Kazantzakis attended
secondary school and the first year of Gymnasium in his home
town of Heraklion, Crete. From his early years, he showed
an interest in learning; when still a child, he decided to
study Hebrew in order to read the Bible in the original.
His second and third years of Gymnasium were spent in a
Franciscan school on the Island of Naxos, where his father
had taken his family for safety during the Cretan struggle
for independence. Here he learned to speak excellent French
and studied the literature, history and philosophy of nine
teenth-century Europe. One cannot help but feel that the
two years of high school in the Franciscan monastery are at
least partially responsible for the dual personality devel
oped in the later years of his life. While at school in
Naxos, Kazantzakis, instead of joining other students in the
yard to play, spent his free time in the library translating
the Larousse Encyclopedia into Greek. When he presented
his work to his two French teachers, one could not find
words to sing his praise highly enough, while the other
reacted by slapping his face and ordering him out into the
12 Lile Zographou, NÏXOS KaÇav-cÇâxriç : "Evac; Tpavtxdc;. /FT. Kazantzakis: The Tragic One/ (Athens, Greece: "Kerdos," i960), p. 59.
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yard to play. Undoubtedly this experience left a deep im
pression on the child, who in latter life was continually
tormented by a sense of doubt and guilt as to whether he
had neglected his duty toward life and humanity by devoting
most of his time to books and writing.
Having returned to Crete to finish high school,
Kazantzakis went on to Athens to study law. He earned his
law diploma with high honors, and in the same year (1906),
made his debut as a man of letters with his novel The Snake
and the Lily, written under the pen name of Karma Nirvame.
His father rewarded him by sending him to Paris, where he
studied under the philosopher Henri Bergson. The following
year, he won first place in a playwriting contest with his
work. The Day Breaks.
In 1910, Kazantzakis settled in Athens, where he made
his living by translating the works of leading foreign
writers, occasionally venturing forth from his study to play
the role of a man of affairs. During the following decade
he traveled, on one pretext or another, across the length
and breadth of Greece. It was the heyday of Greek nationalism
and the spirit of Negali Hellas (Greater Greece), character
ized by wars of liberation from the Ottoman Empire in large
parts of what is now Greek territory, followed by bloody
internecine feuds between Greeks and other ethnic minorities
that had formerly shared the status of subject peoples, for
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control of the liberated lands. It was during this period
that Kazantzakis learned to know and love Greece and its
people and to share their sorrows, and acquired the experi
ences that he was later to incorporate into his novels.
In 1915, for instance, Kazantzakis ventured into the
timber business in the area of Mount Athos, the famous
Macedonian monastic complex. (True to character, he traveled
to the area with a poet friend, Angelos Sikelianos, and the
timber venture was primarily a means of support to enable
him to prolong his semi-monastic retreat.) It was at Mount
Athos where he first met George Zorba, a native of the area.
Macedonia, the perpetual storm center of the Balkans, had
at that time only recently been liberated from Turkish rule
by the Greek Army and had not yet recovered from the devasta
tion of war. Zorba was one of the uprooted of this struggle--
a miner who had lost everything with the closing of the mine
where he had worked and who was reduced to doing odd jobs
to support his family. His meeting with Kazantzakis became 13 a turning point in the lives of both men, and the follow
ing year, 1916, Kazantzakis hired Zorba as his foreman for
13 If to Kazantzakis, as he wrote in Report to Greco (p.430), Zorba became a guru, as the Hindus say, s l a t h e r , as .say the monks of Mount Athos" the author also became the "greatest landmark" in the life of Zorba, enabling him to meet many people, take care of his family and marry-off his daughters. (Anapliotis, op. cit., p. 53)*
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the re-opening of a lignite mine located at Mani, on the
southern tip of the Greek mainland. This is the, episode that,
a quarter of a century later, served as the basis for Zorba
the Greek. Subsequently, Kazantzakis was sent by the Greek
Government to the Caucusus to rescue and repatriate some
150,000 people of Greek origin who were fleeing from the
Bolshevik revolution. (The story of this Journey is told
in another of his books, Toda Raba. ) During this period,
as if to escape from the turmoil and sufferings and the
political passions of the national scene, Kazantzakis made
frequent retreats to a small Greek island or to Switzerland,
where he devoted himself to the reading of his favorite
philosophers,Nietzsche and Bergson.
In 1922, Kazantzakis took up residence in Berlin,
where he inhaled the turgid and formless uneasiness of the
between-wars era. In the German capital, the Greek scholar
met a Polish Jewess, a woman of letters whose influence
. changed his provincial and nationalistic outlook to an
international world-view. This same friend taught him that
beyond the world of books and ideas, there is a world of
human flesh and blood. Her influence on Kazantzakis cannot
be over-emphasized. She led him to emerge into a concrete
world of reality that, twenty years later, culminated in
his writing of Zorba. In the intervening years, Kazantzakis
had the opportunity to travel (he served as a foreign
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correspondent in the Par East and in Spain during the Civil
War of the 1930's), to formulate his personal philosophy,
and to publish his Oddyssey: A Modern Sequel, which earned
for him a place among the creative talents of the 20th
Century.
When at the beginning of World War II, Kazantzakis
began to write Zorba, h e was ready to "leave the world of
theoretical thinking and concentrate on the reality of life,"
but, characteristically, "instead of engaging in life's
pleasures himself, he / d i ^ so vicariously by creating a
work of art.
Significantly, in his first attempt to interpret his
homeland through the novel, he changed the local of Zorba
from the Greek mainland, where he had known and worked with
the real Zorba, to his native Island of Crete. He drew heav
ily for background on the island's history and folkways, and
peopled his book with authentic Cretan characters. Even Zorba,
the Macedonian, according to one reviewer was, in Kazantzakis'
eyes, "the prototype of a race: brave, defiant, braggart,
athletic, boisterous; but also kind, comic, courteous
l4 Kazantzakis began to write Zorba in 1941 and finished it in two years. The novel was published in 1946.
^^Petros Spandonides, Ntv.oc; Ka&avtCdxnc : *0 Ploc; trie ’Avnouxtac /Nikos Kazantzakis: Child of Anxiet/7 Kainoureia Epohi (Athens, Greece) (Fall, 1960), p. 13I.
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compassionate, and coaxing. He was Kazantzakis' ideal Cretan
and, most important, he was what Kazantzakis would never
be."^^ This change of locale is illustrative of a facet of
Kazantzakis' personality that permeated his whole life and
many of his writings--his deep identification with and abid
ing love of his native island. loannis Kakrides, who worked
with Kazantzakis on several occasions, comments that:
/ H i ^ personality can be understood only in terms of the land of his birth. Kazantzakis is a Cretan--we must always remember this when we study him. And, like Crete, which stands between East and West, in the middle of the road that unites Europe, Asia and North Africa, Kazantzakis also is a peculiar mixture of the European and the Asiatic.1?
Crete is by far the largest of the Greek islands,
and lies in the center of the eastern Mediterranean, almost
equidistant from the mainlands of Greece, Turkey and North
Africa. It is mountainous, with breathtakingly beautiful
shores, and its location at the crossroads of the ancient
world has endowed it with a long and violent history
stretching from prehistoric beginnings in its Minoan
civilization, one of the oldest in the world, to modern
times. It has been invaded, pillaged, occupied and ruled
^^Nikos Spanias, "The Real and the Fictional Zorba," Hellenic Review and International Report, Vol. VII, No. 2 (December 1965), p .
^ ? I . Th. Kakrides, IIl x o c KaGavtCdxnc /Nikos Kazantzaki^ Kainoureia Epohi /Athens, Greece/ (Fall, 1956) p. 20.
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by a long succession of foreign adventurers and conquerors
that over the centuries has included Romans, Saracens, Turks,
the Big Powers in the 19th Century and the Germans in the
20th. Throughout its history, it has seen many bloody up
risings, often as bloodily suppressed, and such a past has
bred in its people a fierce fighting spirit and an intimacy
with death. Cretans are aware of death, but are astonish- 1 Q ingly unafraid of it. ' They are, for the most part, a tall,
dark-skinned people with a strong sense of humour, very
proud, with a streak of savagery inherited from the aggressive
ancestors who have overrun the islandin the course of its
history. It is a heroic land, with a harsh and heroic
tradition.
Nikos Kazantzakis shared this tradition and was proud
of it. According to a family legend, his ancestors originated
in a Cretan village that had once been the home of Saracen
pirates; and one of his biographers has described his
appearance as "like that of a Saracen, and his face was
exotic, like an African mask."^^ Kazantzakis' childhood,
moreover, was an era of revolutionary struggle for liberation
from the Turks--a struggle in which his fierce and warlike
l8 As Kazantzakis himself says, in Report to Greco (p. 294), "it is true that we cannot conquer death; we can, however, conquer our fear of death."
^^Panteles Prebelakes, Nikos Kazantzakis, and M s Odyssey: A Study of the P o ^ and the poem (New York: Simon & Schuster, I96I), p . 2 l .
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father played a leading role. Coming from such a stock and
living in such an era, Kazantzakis could not help but feel
and respond to the cruelty and the heroism of his environ
ment. He had, however, neither the physical stamina nor
the fierceness of temperament to carry on this tradition by
acts of personal heroism or violence. He could only inter
pret the tradition, through his writings, and enshrine it
in the annals of human courage. Indeed, he seemed to feel a
compulsion to do so.^^ Certainly he did so in Zorba. In
the words of one reviewer:
In all the pages of the book /Zorba/, Kazant zakis purposely-transforms the time and the place, the people and the events, so that he can pay his debt to his native island. For him, Crete is the indestructible God; the Cretans, the chosen people of the Bible. And, as he places his central figure, Zorba, on the level of Ulysses, Bergson and Neitzsche, he also raises his Crete to the highest summits of Earth. . . . Without this basic purpose, Kazantzakis had no need to make all these changes in order to weave the tale of Alexis Z o r b a . 21
At the outbreak of World War II, Kazantzakis found him
self in Crete; it was there, in his ancestral home, that
Kazantzakis confessed at the,end of his life, that "Frantic revolts broke out in me 'when I was young; I was ready to throw myself into dangerous adventures, but I thought of my father each time and my heart turned coward. This is why- I- was forced to write down all I wished I had done, in stead of becoming a great struggler in the realm of action-- from fear of my father. He it v/as v/ho reduced my blood to ink." Kazantzakis, Report to Greco, p. 458.
^^Anapliotis, 0£. cit., pp. 92-93.
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he received word of the death of George Zorba and embarked
on the writing of this "requiem to a friend." Characteris
tically, Kazantzakis took no active part, military or political,
in the war; he spent the years of the German occupation of
Greece in a semi-retreat on the island of Aegina, where he
completed Zorba. At the end of the war he dabbled briefly
in politics and served briefly as national Minister of
Education, but his political aims, like his temperament,
proved too gentle and too idealistic for the rough-and-tumble
post-war scene in a Greece ravaged by the destruction of war
and occupation and torn by the fratricidal grass-roots
struggle with native and foreign communism. He therefore
left the country in 1946 for what was to become a permanent
self-exile in various countries of Western Europe: England,
France and Germany. It was during this period that, beset
by nostalgia for his beloved homeland and eager to interpret
her traditions to the foreigners around him, he wrote his
major novels about Greek life and culture. These include
The Greek Passion, an extended religious passion play set
in Anatolia under the Ottoman Empire (this novel was first
published in 1943 and filmed under the title ^ Who Must D ie);
Freedom or Death (1949), on the Cretan struggle for libera
tion; and The Fratricides (I963), dealing with the attempted
post-war Communist take-over of Greece. During the same
period, he again demonstrated his life-long preoccupation
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with religion and religious figures by writing two fiction
alized biographies: The Last Temptation of Christ (1949)
and St. Francis (1956).
The Last Temptation of Christ, which envisions a human
Christ torn between His divine mission and character and
his very human reluctance and fear of death, is, from the
traditional Christian point of view, a highly unorthodox if
not heretical work; and it put Kazantzakis, not for the first
time, at loggerheads with the Greek Orthodox Church. This
brings us to another, perhaps the most striking single facet
of his personality, which not only permeates but dominates
his entire life, thought, and literary production. This
is his deep, even obsessive, though unconventional and
eclectic religiosity, coupled with his unrelenting hostility--
frequently rising to the pitch of outright anti-clericalism
--towards what he saw as corruption and .spiritual betrayal
in the Greek Orthodox Church and hierarchy. A mere casual 22 glance at the list of his works suffices to reveal how
far-ranging and persistent was his preoccupation with religious
themes; and even his secular novels, particularly those
dealing with Greece, invariably contain the thread of his
22 In addition to The Greek Passion and the works on Christ and St. Francis, these include his philosophical treatise The Saviours of God--Soiritual Exercises.
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ambivalent attitude toward the Greek Church and clergy. In
The Greek Passion, for example, a Greek village is torn by
the struggle between the forces of good and evil, each of
which polarizes around and is led by a priest--Father Gregori,
the villain, and Father Fotias, the saint. This villain-
saint theme is evident in all of Kazantzakis' Greek-oriented
works. He consistently portrays his clerical characters as
either one or the other, while invariably portraying them as
leaders (which, in the context of Greek village culture, the
parish priests invariably are). Thus he conveys his critique
of the Greek religious establishment, by illuminating the
contrast between what it claims to be and ought to be, and
what it often is. whether or not Kazantzakis himself was 23 an Orthodox Christian, or, indeed, a Christian at all, he
uncompromisingly measured the Orthodox Church and clergy by
the highest of Christian standards and did not hesitate to
canonize its saints or to excoriate its sinners.
23 As to the content of Kazantzakis' personal faith, one Greek Orthodox priest and scholar comments that "/Hi// life and philosophy was the product of many religious influences. He-was an eclectic of what he found to be good among many religious creeds. He freed himself from the authority of the Christian Church and his was a syncretism of religious beliefs, although many of them are Christian Orthodox. Influences of Christianity, Buddhism, Epicurianism and Stoicism are evident in his thought." Rev. Demetrios J. Constantelos, "Was Nikos Kazantzakis a Heretic?" (Hellenic Review and International Report, Vol. 8, No. 7, May l$b7), p. 45.
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As might be expected, neither Kazantzakis' unorthodox
religious views nor his sharply critical attitude toward the
religious establishment endeared him to the Greek Orthodox
hierarchy. During his lifetime, several attempts were made
to bring about his formal excommunication, and though this 24 was never actually done, a number of his books were proscripted
and when, after his death, his body was brought back to Greece
for burial, the Church at first refused him the last rites,
relenting only at the last minute and under pressure.
Kazantzakis' last work was Report to Greco, which he
managed, to complete but did not have time to revise before
his death, and which was published posthumously. He died
in Freiburg, Germany in 1957•
25 B. Zorba the Greek, the Book
1. The Plot
The plot of Zorba is simple; indeed, as a tale of
action, it is decidedly thin. The story opens in the Greek
24 Ibid., p. 44. 25 The edition used for the purposes of this paper is Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek, trans, Carl Wildman (llth printing); (New York: Ballantine Books, Sept. 1967). The first American edition was published by Simon and Schuster in 1952.
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mainland port of Piraeus. Kazantzakis, who as the narrator \26 (the Boss) is himself one of the two major characters in the
novel, is about to sail for Crete to exploit a hillside
lignite mine that he has rented in an isolated area of the
island. Before sailing, true to his character as author,
scholar, and mystic, he finds a half-finished manuscript on
Buddha among his papers, and decides to take it along and
work on it during his Cretan retreat. But it is not the
manuscript alone that accompanies him; for as fate would have
it, on the day of his departure, in a Pireaus cafe, he chances
to meet Zorba, a primitive Macedonian peasant, unemployed
miner and jack-of-all-trades, to whom he is immediately and
irresistibly drawn. Bowing to destiny, impulse and Zorba's
unabashed self-invitation, he hires the Macedonian to accompany
him as mine foreman.
Prom this point on, the novel is ostensibly an account
of their sojourn in Crete and their abortive venture into
the mining business. Its true essence, however, is the story
of the association and friendship between these two men, of
such widely differing backgrounds, characters and outlooks.
26 Throughout the book, the narrator never gives him self a name. He is known by all and sundry by the name conferred upon him by Zorba, who calls him "Boss."
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Zorba, whom Kazantzakls called "an extraordinary Sinbad the 27 Sailor," by the force of his personality eventually
moves the author away from his previous preoccupation with
the philosophical and the abstract, onto a new plane of
experience that eventually eradicates his former naval-
staring, obsessively meditative pattern of life. Zorba Is
Innocent of formal schooling of any kind. All that he knows,
he has learned from life Itself, and throughout his slxty-
some years of living, he has preserved a unique freedom of
thinking and a mind so young that he has never ceased to ask
the questions of youth and Inexperience . One critic comments
that "Zorba does not see reality through the spectrum of
typical symbols; rather, he touches and experiences things 28 directly and explores them deeply, to their roots." This
extraordinary man, with his hunger for life and his unerring
Insight Into Its realities, stands at the opposite pole from
the author with his withdrawn and contemplative nature and
his compulsion to distill from the raw realities, the abstract
27 Kazantzakls, Zorba, p. I5 . p o A. Komis, KpitLxfi : BijîXCo, 'I. KaCavtCdxnC :"BCoc; xaC rioXi- xcCa xov 'AXfSn Zoptixa." /Book Review of Nlkos Kazantzakls "Life and Adventures of AlexTs Zorba,V Elefthera Grammata, No. 6l (March 1, 1947). This review was copied In the National Library of Greece, In Athens, by Stavros Kalfoglou on Dec. 23, 1966.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibitedpermission. without 22
and the universal. Zorba Is the primitive, sensual, hedon
istic pagan, bent on drinking life to the dregs of Joy and
sorrow; the author Is the sophisticate, the philosopher, the
God-ridden mystic and ascetic who Is In the world but not
of It, either Indifferent to it or at a loss how to deal with
It. Zorba Is unimpressed by God and habitually, by his
attitude, cuts Him down to human size and treats Him as an
equal; the author Is over-awed by God and strives to drown
his own flesh In the pure Spirit. During their association,
thelatter learns to look at life through Zorba's eyes, and
In the end, he accepts Zorba as a guru and learns from him
"to love life and not to fear death."
Undeniably, the author's primary concern In writing
Zorba Is to explore the relationship of these two men and
their opposing philosophies of life. His concern with a plot,
as such. Is so secondary as to appear almost as an after
thought. He Is careful to preserve the polarity of the two
world-views, contemplative and active, symbolic and specific,
pagan and Christian, (or Buddhist?) and portrays with
clarity the resulting differences In personality between the
two main protagonists. In an attempt to break the monotony
of the long soliloquies and rambling reminiscences, he
29 Ibid.
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improvises a few concrete episodes that weave the plot.
Even these episodes, however, have no particular relationship
to each other and are primarily Intended to serve as a focal
point for the expression of ldeas--Zorba's and the author's
--on life and death; women, love and marriage, God, religion
and the Church; and even Cretan history and culture. Nor
does Kazantzakls hesitate to digress at will from the
development of his narrative in order to Introduce remlnls-
censes, letters, dreams, soliloquies and vignettes of Crete,
all of which are completely unrelated to the plot. Aside
from the descriptions of scenes and customs, the majority
of these digressions consist of memories and dreams of an
absent friend of the Boss, one Stavros, who at the time of
the Cretan sojourn of Zorba and the Boss, Is In the Caucasus
on a relief mission to the uprooted Greek minority there--
a mission on which the Boss had declined to accompany him.
At the end of the book, just after parting from Zorba, the
Boss receives a cable Informing him of Stavros' death In
the performance of his mission. The persistent, uneasy,
even guilty preoccupation of the Boss with Stavros, which
recurs throughout the novel, led one critic to see Zorba as
a statement and exploration, not merely of the two, but of
three distinct and conflicting views of life:
Stavros believes In the life of duty and sacrifice. The author believes that life Is a terrible struggle
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to convert matter into spirit. For Zorba, life is the untrammelled indulgence of instinct.30
The hard core of the novel, then, consists of the philo
sophical and moral questions posed and answered, within the
framework of the relationship between the young author and
the elderly but ageless peasant--questlons which could as
well have served as the substance of a book without the addi
tion of a plot. Petros Spandonldes, in his brief but valuable
account of Kazantzakls' life and work In a Greek literary
journal, has this to say of Zorba:
The whole book is more of a picaresque novel . . . than a logical and neatly woven story. It has no other unity than the will of Its creator--the author. There Is no continuity arising from the events. The reader leaps Into this story with both feet, rather than sliding Into It gradually and willingly, as one does with a conventional novel. The characters are sketched beforehand, like symbols, and one might say that they do not develop, but remain unchanged.31
And Klmon Friar, a distinguished Greek American liter
ary critic and tran'slator of Kazantzakls,32 recommends that
Zorba, to be appreciated, should be read "on the level of
realistic symbolism."33
Klmon Friar, "A Minor Masterpiece," New Republic, Vol. 128 (April 27,.1953), p. 20.
^^Spandonldes, op. clt., p. 133.
32j^j_jjjQP prlar Is the translator responsible for the English version of Kazantzakls' masterpiece. The Oddyssey: A Modern Sequel.
33prlar, loc. clt.
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The mining operation which is the ostensible reason
for the journey to Crete of Zorba and the Boss, and which one
might expect to figure importantly in the plot, is early
relegated to its proper perspective by Kazantzakls, who has
the Boss tell Zorba, shortly after their arrival on the Island,
that their real purpose Is "to carry Ideas Into effect" and
that "the coal was a pretext, just to stop the locals from
being too Inquisitive, so that they took us for sober con- 34 tractors and didn't greet us by slinging tomatoes at us.
Zorba Is too overwhelmed by this announcement that words fall 35 him, and he is forced to express his joy by dancing; neither
the ascetic nor the pagan can muster any great enthusiasm
for the profit of the motive. From this point on, the Boss
largely Ignores the mine and leaves It to Zorba, who treats
It as a starting point for his encounters with life and as
an outlet for the emotions generated by his encounters with
death.
Kazantzakls, Zorba, p. 32.
^^It should be pointed out that the Greek folk dance Is not like Western social dancing, a purely social custom requiring a partner of the opposite sex. It Is, rather, essentially an Individualistic act, whether performed singly or In a group (in the latter case the group consists as often as not entirely of men or entirely of women). It might be termed a ritualized expression of emotion. Zorba, for Instance, uses It to express both joy and sorrow (he recalls, for Instance, dancing out his grief at the death of his small son Dlmltrakl). That the dance similarly understood by the peasants of other European countries is Illustrated by the episode described by Zorba In reminiscing about his experiences
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The mining operation does provide a few episodes that,
In the novel, serve primarily to portray some of the many
facet&.of Zorba's personality. The weakness of the pit
props provides a scene, that serves to Illustrate his devil-
may-care heroism; the mine gallery collapses and Zorba, by
an act of bravery, shores It up slngly-handedly for long
enough to permit the miners to escape--after which he
excoriates them for their cowardice In leaving their tools
behind them. The need to secure better timber for the mine,
and the difficulty of local transport, leads Zorba to conceive
the get-rlch-qulck scheme that fires his Imagination through
out the novel and Illustrates his hunger for life. He
proposes to build a cable from the forested mountalntop to
the beach, so that he can bring down, not merely timber for
the mine, but the whole forest; he envisions making a killing
In the lumber business and using the proceeds to sail around
the world In a three-masted schooner. As he tells the Boss,
"I've no time to lose . . . the longer I live, the more I
rebel. I'm not going to give In; I want to conquer the World.
In Russia, where he and a Russian peasant used the dance to supplement their respective llnqulstlc shortcomings In order to tell each other their respective life stories. Ibid., pp. 85-36.
^^Ibld., p. 8 9 .
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The procurement of material for this project serves as an
excuse for Zorba's excursion to the town of Candla, where.
Instead of purchasing anything so dull as cable machinery,
he devotes himself and a considerable portion of the Boss'
money to a whirlwind affair with a tavern wench named Lola
who tauntingly calls him Granda'd'and plays on his stubborn
refusal to accept old age. This Incident, in the novel. Is
contained entirely In a half-sheepish, half-man-to-man and
wholly Illiterate letter from Zorba to the Boss. (He later
recoups the misspent funds through a shady deal with a shady
Abbot of the monastery, to which the forest belongs, for
the logging concession.) In spite of everything, the cable
is eventually completed, and collapses In a blaze of
publicity and humour on the occasion of Its formal dedication,
blessing a glorious piece of Zorbatic non-achievement that
marks the end of the Cretan sojourn.
Aside from these Incidents, what plot there Is In
Zorba, as Klmon Prlar points out, hangs solely on three main
episodes: the Zorba-Hortense affairs; the murder of the Widow;
and the burning of the monastery by Zaharlas/Joseph, the 37 schizophrenic monk. These episodes bear little or no
relationship to each other. Each of them serves rather as
37 Friar, loc. clt,
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a vehicle for the expression of the two opposing views--
Zorba's and the Boss'--on the universal preoccupations of
mankind. The Hortense-Zorba affair reflects their views
(particularly Zorba's) on women, love and marriage; the
murder of the Widow, their views on life and death; and the
events leading up to the burning of the monastery, their
attitudes toward God, religion and the established Church.
Each of these episodes revolves around a major supporting
character (the last two Involve a number of minor characters
as well); and the Importance of each lies principally In the
contrast between the reactions of the two main protagonists
toward the major character concerned. Whatever remains to
be said about the plot of Zorba, therefore, may perhaps best
be explained In terms of these supporting personalities
created by Kazantzakls.
2 ; The Characters
a. Madame Hortense and her Affair with Zorba. Madame
Hortense, the leading female character In the novel. Is an
aging French cafe chanteuse, a "dumpy, plump little woman oQ with bleached flax-colored hair, " who owns and operates
the rlckey one-story hotel of the Cretan village. She Is
a leftover from the late 19th Century era when an Insurgent
• 3 O Kazantzakls, Zorba, p. 35.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 29 3 9 Crete was under the protection of the major European powers.
It Is at the end of a stormy life that she enjoys the
charismatic friendship of Zorba, In a relationship In which
she progresses from the role of Innkeeper and hostess to
that of lover and finally to that of pseudo-fiancee, general
nuisance and object of pity. He Is the last of her many
lovers, who In her younger days have Included the small and
the great of all the nationalities of Europe and the Near
East. At the high point In her career, she had been the
mistress of all four Admirals of the combined Great Power fleet
39 The character of Madame Hortense, like that of Zorba, Is based on the life and personality of a real person. Her name was Adelina Guitar, and she was born In 1863 In Toulon, France. At age 35, she arrived In Crete as the mistress of the French Admiral Poltler, one of the commanders of the combined Big Power Fleet based on the port of Candla, that served as a protective force for the Island during the up rising against the Turks at the close of the 19th Century. Her house was the scene of wild parties for the officers of the protecting navies, and her biographer, Yannls Manolikakls, Is of the opinion that these occasions served to further her activities as a spy for French Intelligence. After Crete's liberation and the withdrawal of the Big Power navies, she settled on the Island and married a retired Greek gendarme. A few years later, her husband left her, taking with him all her savings; but she re-established herself and In 1920 was named Vice-Consul of France In the town of lerapetra, where she opened the first hotel In the town. She died In May, 1938, at the age of 75, beloved of most of the people who knew her. Yannls M’anolikakls, Mavta|i 'Optdvç j’AcpinY^ori hn6 -cdv algOvti KatoxTÎ tTîc KpiitTic, 1897-9 8 ./Idadame Hortense: A Narration of the International Occupation of Crete, l897-9S7(Athens, Greece: Typographeion D. Papadopoulou, I965).
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assigned to the protection of Crete. The withdrawal of this
fleet has left her a castaway on the Cretan shore, and her
life ever since has been a steady downhill progress into the
backwaters of old age. Her charms are fading as her status
in life deteriorates; but she fights a gallant, though slightly
ridiculous feminine battle against the erosion of time and
the Inevitability of death with the aid of copious amounts
of make-up, perfume and ribbons to restrain the wrinkles In
her neck. Withal, she Is the eternal female, and Zorba, the
eternal male and Irrepressible womanizer. Is Immediately
drawn to her and as Immediately sets out to woo her, win her,
and eventually tire of her. He sees, behind her aging features,
"the austere, sacred and mysterious face of Aphrodite . . .
Dame Hortense was only an ephemeral and transparent mask 4o which Zorba tore away to kiss the eternal mouth."
Zorba's affair with Dame Hortense Is dellnated In five
major scenes and a few minor ones, widely dispersed throughout
the novel. Since this affair Is one of the major episodes
In the film version of Zorba, it will be necessary to des
cribe It here at some length as It Is presented by Kazantzakls
In the book.
The first scene takes place In autumn, on the very day
of Zorba's and the Boss' arrival In the Cretan village. They
40 Kazantzakls, Zorba, p. 50.
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inquire about lodging--Zorba Insists that for this purpose
they find an accommodating wldow--and thus learn from the
villagers of the existence and background of Madame Hortense,
who, according to the cafe proprietor. Is the widow of as
many husbands as he has whiskers in his beard. They are
offered hospitality by the village elders, who look down on
Madame Hortense as a rather dubious foreigner, but--agaln at
the Insistence of Zorba, who has already sniffed the eternal
female--they eschew these Invitations and seek lodging at
her Inn. She receives them as the respectable innkeeper,
but Is unable to suppress the Instinct to flirt with Zorba.
He responds by turning a decorous evening meal Into a party
and converting Madame Hortense from Hostess to guest, by
setting a third place at table for her. The party Is momen
tarily Interrupted by a group of curious children, whom
Zorba disperses with a well-aimed stone, but otherwise Is
an unqualified success, marked by two different brands of
gallantry toward the old lady on the part of the two men.
In the course of the evening, under the Influence of wine,
she treats her guests to reminiscences of her heyday as
queen of the Great Powers fleet at Candla, when by her
flirtatious wheedling, she saved Crete from naval bombardment.
This prompts Zorba, who sees her as the eternal woman, to
name her Bouboullna, after a romantic heroine of several sea
battles during the Greek War of Independence; whereas the Boss,
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who sees her as a decaying old lady, compares her jbo Sarah
Bernhardt. The evening ends with a nostalgic rendition by
the old chanteuse of her favorite numbers, accompanied by
Zorba on his santuri^ and finally with a none-too-gentle hint
from Zorba that the Boss's presence is superfluous.
Madame Hortense does not appear again until Christmas.
In the meantime, Zorba and the Boss have built themselves a
hut on the beach and are occupied respectively with the
operation of the mine (it Is during this Interval that the
mine gallery collapses and Zorba conceives his timber removal
scheme) and the manuscript on Buddha, and have made the
acquaintance of the local villagers. Following the Midnight
Mass at Christmas, Madame Hortense entertains the two friends
In her own room at her Inn, In a scene distinguished primarily
by the spirit of hospitality and feminine warmth, ending,
of course, with another bout of love-making between Zorba
and the old chanteuse. She again entertains them on New
Year's Eve, in a scene that marks the beginning of the
deterioration of the affair. On this occasion, Zorba presents
her with a crude drawing, of his own making, commemorating
her days of glory as mistress of the Admirals of the fleet.
Thus flattered, she turns coy and has to be coaxed to eat;
but finally both eat and drink too much. The peace of the
night is broken by the caterwauling of amorous cats on the
roof, and Zorba is obliged to interrupt his preliminary
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flirtations in order to chase them away. In the meantime,
Madame Hortense falls into a drunken stupor distinguished by
a toothless grin that hints of a dream of the long line of
her former lovers; and Zorba withdraws in a disgust that
includes an admixture of jealousy. His distate is further
heightened on the following day by Madame Hortense's public
and tearful farewell on the occasion of his leaving for Candia,
on the trip that will bring him to his alliance with Lola,
the tavern wench.
From this point on, the personality of Madame Hortense
grows steadily more forlorn. During Zorba's absence in
Candia, she visits the Boss in a passion of loneliness and
longing, to inquire for news of her lover. The Boss, half
In jest and half in pity that is curiously devoid of com
passion, misrepresents the letter from Zorba (which in
reality describes Zorba's affair with Lola) as a missive
of love and longing for Madame Hortense, and as a crowning
touch, pretends to read to her a totally non-exlstlng
statement of Zorba's intention to marry her. This announce
ment transports the old lady Into a fool's paradise of
happiness, but when Zorba returns, bearing Dame Hortense all
kinds of gifts except the crucial one--the marriage wreaths—
the Boss Is obliged to confess his deception to Zorba and
to enlist his aid in preserving the elderly Frenchwoman from
disillusionment. Zorba, more compassionate than his employer.
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reproaches him gently: "You shouldn't do things like that,
Boss . . . Women are weak, delicate creatures . . , like
porcelain vases, they are, and you have to handle them very 41 carefully. Boss."' The hope of marriage. In the meantime,
brings about a radical change In the personality of Madame
Hortense, who loses all her "Indefinable and dubious charms."
She no longer makes herself up, nor decks herself out, but
shows herself "just as she / T ^ Z : a poor creature who ^ a n t £ / 42 to get married." Pressed by his pseudo-fiancee to set a
date for the wedding, and torn between reluctance and pity,
Zorba elects to play the compassionate clown and stages a
mock engagement ceremony with a weeping Hortense that strikes
a delicate balance between honour and pathos.
Madame Hortense Is not heard from again until Easter,
when she falls to appear at a holiday picnic prepared by
Zorba and the Boss, because she is suffering from a cold.
The two friends celebrate quite happily without her, but her
condition steadily worsens, until It becomes a death agony
marked alternately by a naked, abject fear and a gentle
resignation. Her passing serves to illustrate the Cretan
(and Greek) attitude toward death, compounded of respect for
Kazantzakls, Zorba, p. 200.
42ibid., p. 237.
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the dead and preoccupation with the material needs of the
living. The former expressed by Zorba and by Uncle
Anagnostl, a village elder who begs her forgiveness for
offenses committed against her In life; the latter takes the
form of the pillaging of her meager belongings by the villagers,
commencing even before her death and joined In even by the
professional mourners, who in their eagerness to lay hands
on their share, begin her death chant before the life has
left her body. The horror of this scene is explained. If not
alleviated, by the emphasis placed by several villagers on
Madame Hortense's status as a foreigner and a seml-lnfldel
who is in addition, unmarried and without heirs. The alterna
tive to the pillaging would be the reversion of her property
to the state--a contingency which these poverty-stricken
peasants see no reason to permit.
b. The Widow; Temptress and Victim. Sharing and
counterbalancing Madame Hortense's role as female of the
species, in Kazantzakis' Zorba, is the Widow. Just as Zorba
and the Boss are spiritual opposites, so the Widow Is the
physical and psychological opposite of Madame Hortense. She
Is a young woman, "slender-walsted, " with "a good, round
figure,and a "firm, alluring body."^^ If Madame Hortense
43ibid., p. 140. ^^Ibld., p. 112. ^^Ibld., p. 110.
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is Aphrodite masked by old age, the Widow is Aphrodite un-
velled--irreslstible, unattainable, mysterious and cruel.
She exuded a primitive, sensual, even animal allure that
pervades and electrifies the entire atmosphere around her.
She Is aware of her magnetism, but contemptuous of Its victims
and Indifferent to the emotional storms she leaves In her
wake. She is as silent as Madame Hortense is garrulous,
as aloof as the old lady is convivial, as vital as the old
lady is decrepit, as untouchable as the old lady is available,
as merciless as the old lady is kind. Her name is Sourmelina,
but only once does Kazantzakis call her thus, and only twice,
very briefly, does he endow her with the power of speech;
he draws her portrait almost exclusively In terms of the
reactions she produces In others. The Widow is less an
individual than a symbol, the prototype of the temptress, the
focal point of sexual desire for every male who sees her
and the object of the jealousy and hatred of every woman.
She Is, In the words of Uncle Anagnostl, the village ancient
and sage, "a brood mare . . . As soon as she sees a man, she ,46 starts to whinny.
The Widow's appearances In the novel are Infrequent
and, except for her death scene, fleeting. There are only
four scenes, including her murder, in which she is actually
46 Ibid., p. 184.
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present. For the rest, she conducts her relations with the
outside world through the agency of Mlmlko, the village Idiot,
who acts as her messenger and informant. What her appearances
lack in frequency, however, they make up for in effect. In
contrast to Madame Hortense, whose fading charms partake of
the quality of "out of sight, out of mind," the Widow pro
jects an image that lingers persistently in the male mind and
secretly inflames his imagination. Her absence is at least
as disturbing, if not more so, than her presence. It is
this quality that constitutes her importance to the novel,
and also this quality that seals her fate. It Is a quality,
however, that cannot be photographed, and the producer of
the film version of Zorba was forced to rely heavily, for
her portrayal, on the few- tangible incidents concerning
her provided by the novelist. For this reason, and for
purposes of comparison, it will be necessary to examine
these incidents in detail.
The most important of the Widow's appearances, and
those most substantially described in the novel, are the
first and the last. The first takes place on a rainy day
in the late autumn, in a scene at the local cafe which also
serves to Introduce the villagers who most love her and hate
her and who collectively will become the Instruments of
her destiny. Chief among these are Mavradonl, one of the
village elders, stern, taciturn and fiercely proud; Pavlos,
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his son, a nondescript and spineless youth of twenty, in 4? his father's eyes a "pipsqueak" and the victim of unre
quited love for the Widow; Manolakas, the constable, nephew
of Mavradonl and cousin of Pavlos, a bull of a man, who makes
up In family loyalty what he lacks In subtlety; and Mlmlko,
the village Idiot and the Widow's messenger boy. Informant
and only devoted friend. Others, less affected by the
emotional storm generated by the Widow, are Uncle Anagnostl,
the village ancient and sage; Kondomanollo, the cafe propri
etor; and Androulio, the elderly verger.
Most of these men, and a number of others, are
gathered In the cafe one automn afternoon, some weeks after
Zorba's and the Boss' arrival In Crete. The two friends,
out for a stroll and caught In a sudden downpour, duck Into
the cafe to escape the rain and find a typical tavern scene;
noisy with small talk and tall tales. The scene continues
relaxed and convlclal, until suddenly the Widow runs by,
skirts held up to her knees out of the mud, her rain-soaked
clothing revealing her alluring figure. She turns her head,
gives a "rapid, dazzling look into the cafe,"^and Is gone.
She does not stop nor speak, nor does she reappear; but this
brief glance Is sufficient. It Is a lightning bolt that
electrifies the gathering.
4? Ibid., p. 112. 48 Ibid., p. 110.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 39 The reactions of the cafe clientele to this fleeting
glimpse of the Widow constitute the portrait of her character
and contain the seeds of her fate. Most of the men--Zdrba
included--are struck breathless. Mavradonl and Manolakas
are openly hostile; Manolakas curses the Widow as a vamp who 49 "sets a man on fire and then lets him burn," while Mavradonl
vents his rage on poor Mlmlko, v;ho enters the cafe In the
Widow's wake to announce her offer of a reward for the return
of her lost ewe. Mavradonl preemptorlly orders Mlmlko out,
but he Is rescued by a compassionate Uncle Anagnostl, who buys
him a drink to ward off the cold. Androulio, the verger,
shrewd and tolerant, blesses the Widow as the secret Inspira
tion responsible for the recent bumper crop of village
children. Mlmlko's entrance Is followed by that of Pavlos,
who Is not, however, allowed to enjoy his welcome for long; for
his father, furious and disgusted at the Widow's power to
magnetize, abruptly gets up to leave and orders his son to
follow him. This order Is obeyed, not only by Pavlos but
also by Manolakas, whereupon the gosslp-mongerlng cafe
proprietor, his tongue loosened by their departure, retails
to all and sundry the explanation for their anger;
Poor old Mavradonl . . . He'll die of rage. It's a great misfortune that has struck his house . , . Only
49 Ibid
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yesterday I heard Pavli . . . saying to his father: 'If she won't be my wife. I'll kill myself I' But that jade doesn't want to have anything to do with him. She tells him to run along and wipe his nose. 50
No less significant are the reactions of Zorba and
the Boss--for they, like the others, will prove unable to
dismiss the Widow from their minds and will continue to
react to her Image, at moments both of relaxation and of
stress, when she herself Is nowhere In sight. The Boss,
the Incorrigible ascetic. Is no more capable of recognizing
the humanity of Aphrodite unveiled than he could discern
the femininity of Aphrodite masked by age. He saw In the
latter a relic; he sees In the former an animal. His first 51 reaction to the Widow Is to ask "What beast of prey Is that?" 52 He sees her as "lithe and dangerous--a devourer of men."
To him she Is, In a word, the Incarnation of the flesh and
the devil, a temptation to be resisted and overcome. He Is,
however, far from Immune to her appeal. Pressed by Zorba to
pursue her, he Is annoyed and unresponsive, precisely because,
as he admits to himself, "In my heart of hearts, I also had
desired that all-powerful body which had passed by me like an
animal In heat, distilling musk."
Zorba, for his part. Is not burdened In his reaction
by either illusion or compunction. If the Widow Is the
5°lbld., p. 113. 5^Ibld., p. 110. ^^Ibld.
53lbld., p. 115.
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whinnying brood mare, Zorba is the ageing but experienced
stallion. He recognizes her from the Instant he sees her
as the quintessence of female, and his male Instincts are
so Inflamed that he can barelyrestrain the Instinct to paw
the ground. So aroused Is he, that he can no longer bear
the atmosphere of the cafe--lt suffocates him. Realist
and experienced stallion that he Is, he realizes instantly
that neither he nor any of the vlllagers--dray-horses all--
can hope to approach this particular mare, but that she will
respond to the Boss, the sophisticate and thoroughbred. But
his maleness recoils at the thought of such female magnificence
going to waste, so he embarks Immediately on a fervent and
sustained campaign to push the Boss Into pursuing this
conquest In the name of the human male--a campaign to which
he devotes all the persistence and craft he can master. He
begins the minute they are outside the cafe (from which he
has all but dragged the Boss by main force), with a head-on
challenge :
Boss.. . .This Is where I count on you. Now don't dishonour the male species'. The god-devll sends you this choice morsel. You've got teeth. Alright, get 'em Into It I Stretch out your arm and take her! What did the Creator give us hands for? To take things 1 So, take 'em! I've seen loads of women In my time. But that damned widow makes the steeples rock! 54
54 ^ Ibid.
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But the gauntlet is not picked up. The Boss, as stub
bornly the monk as Zorba is the pagan, ignores it: "I don't
want any trouble!Undismayed by this rebuff, Zorba turns
to guile. He plays his santuri to inflame the Boss' imagina
tion. When this, for once, is unsuccessful, he subtly attacks
the Boss' ascetic scruples with a tale of his youth and a bit
of theology acquired from a Turkish fzocfja who once warned
him: "He who can sleep with a woman and does not, coimnits a
great sin .... If a woman calls you to share her bed and
you don't go, your soul will be destroyed!When even this
Is to no avail, he gives up In disgust for the moment and
goes to bed. But, nothing daunted by his failure to storm
the fort, Zorba settles down for the selged. The following
evenings witness his regular, unexplained and mysterious dis
appearances; he Is scouting the Widow's house to verify that
she sleeps alone. Both reassured and appalled to find that
she does, he mounts watch on the Boss' protracted struggle
with the flesh and the devil, and plays the devil's advocate
at every possible opportunity. As late as Christmas Eve he
Is still at It. The Boss proposes to calm his restlessness
by attending midnight mass, to which Zorba retorts:
All right, then . . . let's go. But I want you to know that God would have been much more pleased if you'd
55ibid. ^'^Ibld., p. 118.
5^V/lse man or sage.
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gone to the widow's tonight, like Archangel Gabriel. If God had followed the same path as you. Boss, he'd never have gone to Mary's and Christ would never have been born.58
The Boss' struggle Is as valiant as it is prolonged;
but it is undermined, not only by Zorba, but also by chance
and circumstances, with an occasional assist from the Widow
herself. The collapse of the mine gallery and his own narrow
escape from death intensify his brooding restlessness; he
senses the Widow in his blood and he fights to exorcise her
by feverish dedication to the writing of Buddha, conceiving
her, in this interval, as the female incarnation of Mara, the 59 Buddhist spirit of evil. Neither Buddha nor Christ reborn,
however, suffices to drive out Aphrodite and his restlessness
lasts through Christmas, unallayed by Midnight Mass and
heightened by the tender warmth of Madame Hortense's Christmas
hospitality. By New Year's Eve, he is more depressed than
ever. This mood is conveyed, in Kazantzakis' novel by spurts
of soul-searching introspection described by the Boss himself;
there is little, if any indication of it in his outward
conduct.
But a new day breaks, and with it a new year, and hope
ful lifting of the spirit. Gaily, the Boss saunters forth,
curious to know who will be the first person--lucky or unlucky-
he will meet in the new year. As chance would have it, and
S^ibid., p. 131. ^%bi d . , p. 129.
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to his utter dismay, it is the Widow, whom he encounters
at the entrance to her garden. This is their second en
counter, and the Widow's second appearance in the novel;
and fleeting though it is, it is revealing of both their
characters. The Boss is thunderstruck. Again he sees her
as a beast of prey--specifically, this time, as a "black
panther-and he restrains the impulse to flee. She, the
eternal temptress, is self-contained and mysteriously provoca
tive . Again, she does not speak, but casts him a "langorous 6l glance full of wild sweetness," and, entering her garden
with swaying hips, leaves the gate open behind her and
disappears. The Boss, thus challenged, is rooted to the
spot. He cannot accept her implicit invitation; he cannot
even find the voice to wish her a happy New Year. He is
torn by a variety of horrors: his ascetic's horror of the
temptations of the flesh, his city-bred horror of the jungle
with its raw life and ruthless law of survival, and his
human horror at his own inadequacy as a male. So he does
nothing, says nothing--and turns away from her disappearing
back in humiliation and shame, feeling "a weight on my soul
as if I had committed a mortal sin.Shades of Zorba's
hodja. But, as he admits to himself, he is also aroused,
and his defenses are crumbling. "It was no use chasing from
— Ibid., p. 140. ^^Ibid. ^^Ibid., p. l4l.
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my thoughts the Widow's swaying hips, her smile, her eyes,
her breasts, they always returned--! was suffocating!"
It will be many a long and eventful week before he
sees the Widow again--she does not reappear in person until
Easter. But, in the interval, he witnesses the event that is
to seal her destiny. It is shortly after New Year, while
Zorba is in Candia. The Boss is alone in his beach hut, having
just finished playing his cruel joke on Madame Hortense in- 64 volving Zorba's proposal of marriage, when he hears shrill
cries from the beach around the headland. Pavlos' swollen
corpse has been washed up on the shore--he has made good
his threat and has drowned himself in humiliation and despair
over his hopeless love for the Widow. A crowd of villagers
is rapidly converging on the spot where the body lies, and
the women have already set up a hysterical wailing dirge.
Madame Hortense, thus confronted on her way home, returns
to the Boss in a state of panic--not of the crowd, but of
death itself--so upset that she cannot even communicate to
the Boss what has happened. (This is the first indication
in the novel of her overriding fear of death.) He learns
the news from Mimiko as the latter runs past to join the
crowd, and covering the old Frenchwoman with his coat, he
leaves her to join the crowd himself.
^^Ibid. ^^Supra., p. 33.
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He arrives on the scene to find the entire village
assembled. The tragedy divides the sexes, in the Greek
manner. The women are given over to hysterical, ostentatious
grief, while the men stand bare-headed, silent and controlled.
Mavradoni, the father, stands motionless and stoic over the
body of his son. Suddenly a shrill feminine voice arises; 65 "A curse on you. Widow I God shall make you pay for this 1"
--and a half-crazed woman. Crazy Katerina, leaps forth to
challenge the men of the village: "Isn't there a single man
. . .to throw her across his knees and cut her throat like
a sheep? Bah'. You cowards ! She is answered by one of
the men, speaking for all of them: "Don't humiliate us.
Crazy Katerina . . . there are still some men, some palikaria
in our village, you'll see. His answer is a death sentence;
by it we learn that the Widow's fate is sealed. She has
been judged guilty of Pavlo's death and condemned. Her killing,
by the harsh Cretan code, will henceforth be, not murder, but
execution, an act of justice and courage that only brave young
men, palikaria , are entitled to commit. The import of this
is not lost on the Boss, who after all, is a Cretan himself,
and in horror and compassion, he dissents: "Shame on you all 1
. . . In what way is the woman responsible? It was fated.
Don't you fear God?"^^ But, ominously, no one replies.
^^Ibid., p. 183. ^^Ibid.
G^ibid. ^®Ibid.
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The scene is brought to a close by Manolakas, who lifts the
corpse in his arms and bears it away in a procession headed
by old Mavradoni, who first beats off the over-wrought and
hysterical women who surround the body and then leads the
funeral march in solitary and tragic dignity.
A few hours later, the Boss receives a gift of a basket
of oranges from the Widow, by the hand of Mimiko, who tells
him that they are "because of the good word you put in for 69 her to the villagers this afternoon." The Boss, in turn,
relays by Mimiko his thanks and a warning: "She must watch
her step and not show herself in the village on any account
. . . She must stay indoors for a time, until this unhappy 70 business has been forgotten." From this episode we learn
that Zorba's campaign, aided by chance and the Widow, is
progressing. The inexorable attitude of the villagers toward
the Widow has prodded the Boss to elevate her, in his own
mind, from beast of prey to be feared, to human being to be
protected. But his defenses, though weakening, have not yet
fallen. Contenting himself with this warning message, he
pointedly ignores Mimiko's broad hint that the Widow would
welcome a more personal message, and preemptorily dismisses
him.
69 Ibid., p. 186. ^^Ibid.
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At this point, the emotional current between the Boss
and the Widow goes underground. In the eventful weeks that
follow, the novel carries no further hint of it, either in
the outward conduct of either party or in the introspective
life of the Boss. The latter is caught up by Zorba's return
from Candia, his mock engagement to Madame Hortense, and the
visit of the two to the monastery. To all appearances, he
has succeeded in dismissing the Widow from his mind. But on
Easter Sunday, deprived of feminine company by Madame 71 Hortense's illness, Zorba abandons the Boss to Join the
villagers in their Easter fete, and the current breaks through
to the surface. The Boss takes a stroll, apparently aimless,
but guided by a subconscious intention and by Zorba's
prescription for life, which is echoing in his mind: "Sea, 72 women, wine and hard work." Almost inadvertently, he
comes to the Widow's garden, as to his destination. He finds
her cutting oranges at dusk. Again he is overwhelmed by her
female allure; again he senses the beast of prey and is
impelled to flee; but this time he controls the impulse and
stands firm. The Widow senses his presence and turns, and
speaks the first words she has uttered in the novel: "Who is
it?" "It's me," answers the Boss, "it's me. Let me in.
'^^Supra., p. 34. '^^Ibid.
72ibid., p. 264. T^Ibid., p. 265.
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Cautiously, fearfully, she approaches: "Who d'you mean, you?"
Then, realizing, her face lights up. She licks her lips, and
her voice softens: "The Boss." Again she asks, "You, Boss?" 75 And she speaks the word of acceptance and summons. "Come 1"
Zorba has won. At dawn,- when the Boss returns to the beach
hut, Zorba sniffs, and learns of his victory; he scents the
Widow. He is overjoyed. He beams, and embraces his employer: 76 "My blessing on you I"
But victory is soon to be quenched in tragedy; the
Widow's destiny is moving inexorably to its consummation.
Barred as an outcast from saluting the risen Christ at Easter
Mass, she has already cut orange blossoms to present to Him
in private, in the empty church, while the villagers are
celebrating His resurrection by their paschal dance in the 77 square. The next evening, she visits the church for this
purpose--and is surprised by old Androulio, the verger, who
runs to the square to announce the news to the assembled villa
gers. The crowd becomes a mob, and converges on the church
Just as the woman is leaving. Her destiny is upon her. She
75 Ibid. T^ibid.
7?It should be noted that the Easter season in Greek village culture, is a religious and social event ranking equally with Christmas in importance, if indeed it does not surpass it.
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tries to retreat inside the church, but old Mavradoni,
blocking her way, with dignity quells the mob that would
slaughter her and then calls on Manolakas to avenge his
cousin. Manolakas crosses himself and approaches with up
raised knife, while old Mavradoni, also crosses himself and
calls on the justice of God. It is clear that the villagers,
especially those most affected, are in their own minds wit
nessing and committing an execution. But Zorba, the foreigner,
interferes. He commands Manolakas to lower his knife, calls
him a murderer, and scorns the villagers as cowards: "Fine
lot of men you are I A whole village to kill a single womanL
Take care,—or you'll disgrace the whole of Crete'."
Ordered by Mavradoni to mind his own business, Zorba assaults
Manolakas as he is about to strike, engages him in combat and
disarms him. He then attempts to lead the Widow through the
crowd to safety, but he is too late. Before she can reach
his side, old Mavradoni throws himself upon her, wraps her
hair around his arm and, crying out that he takes responsi
bility for this sin, decapitates her with a single blow of
his knife.
The real significance of the Widow's murder lies in
the various attitudes toward her death. With the exception
of Mimiko, who sees it as murder and is inconsolable, the
78Ibid., p. 274.
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villagers, as has been stated, see it as an act of justice.
This is nowhere more evident than in the subsequent attitude
of Manolakas toward Zorba. He is infuriated that the latter
has, by his interference, prevented him from fulfilling his
duty as a kinsman and palikari and is determined to revenge
himself on Zorba for this. The Boss~is obliged to make peace
between them after Manolakas ambushes Zorba in the street.
Zorba, for his part, is violently upset by the Widow's death,
and far from seeing it as an act of human justice, regards
it as an act of gross injustice on the part of God Himself:
I tell you. Boss, everything that happens in this world is unjust, unjust, unjust! I won't be a party to it! I, Zorba, the worm, the slug! Why must the young die and the old wrecks go on living? Why do little children die? I had a boy once--Dimitri he was called--and I lost him when he was three years old. Well . . . I shall never, never forgive God for that, do you hear? I tell you, the day I die, if He has the cheek to appear in front of me, and if He is really and truly a God, He'll be ashamed. Yes, yes. He'll be ashamed to show himself to Zorba, the slug! 79
The Boss, on the other hand, sophisticate though he
is, shows himself a Cretan in the end; he sees in the Widow's
death not only justice, but necessity, and even more:
I . . . once more began, in my wretched, inhuman way, to transpose reality, removing blood, flesh and bones and reduce it to the abstract, link it with the universal laws, until I came to the awful conclusion that what had happened was necessary. And, what is more, that it contributed to the universal harmony. I arrived at this
79ibid., pp.276.2 7 7 .
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final and abominable consolation: it was right that all that had happened should have happened. 80
c . Zacharias/Joseph: The Burning of the Monastery.
The third element of the plot of Zorba, as stated by Kimon
Friar, revolves around the character of Zacharias, a schizo
phrenic monk whose body is inhabited by two personalities:
his own, religious, ascetic and sincere, and another, his
personal devil, a gluttonous, earthy sinner, whose name,
according to Zacharias, is Joseph. Zacharias does not appear
in the novel until two-thirds of the way through its pages,
when Zorba and the Boss encounter him on their way up to the
Monastery, where they are going to negotiate with the Abbot
for the timber rights in the Monastery’s forest. Zacharias
has been violently expelled from the religious community by
the Abbot, who had been fed up with his half-crazed nocturnal
lamentations and his all-too-accurate comments on the question
able purity of the monastic life. Zorba, however, persuades
him to act as their guide up the mountain. There, the two
friends find a religious community that is far from achieving
the ideal of the saintly life; it is infected with hypocrisy,
avarice and homosexuality. In the words of Zacharias: "Money, 8l pride and young boys--that's their holy trinity." The two
^ ° I b i d . , pp. 277--278. ^ ^ Ib id ., p . 213.
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friends arrive on the scene to discover, among other things,
a one-sided homosexual affair in progress between the Abbot
himself and a novice whose part in the affair is obviously
not that of a consenting adult. Their visit is marked by
the murder of this novice, followed by an attempt on the
part of the monks to cover it up. The Boss is appalled, but
Zorba feels justified in using this and other incidents as a
basis to blackmail the Abbot in the course of the timber ne
gotiations, thus recouping the sum misspent on Lola in Candia.
Zacharias, for his part, decides to burn the monastery--the
murder is the crowning incident that excites his devil,
Joseph, to action. Zorba, abetting him, recommends the use
of plenty of paraffin. A few days after the murder of the
Widow, Zacharias appears at their beach hut--he has made
good his threat of arson and is fleeing from the monks, who
are searching for the culprit. The experience has destroyed
his evil spirit Joseph, who, he says, issued out of his mouth
like a black ribbon and was burned up in the fire. Zorba and
the Boss plan to help him escape, but his act of arson has
burned out not only Joseph, but also Zacharias; he collapses
and dies in his sleep.
The entire episode of the monks and the burning of the
monastery is a vehicle to convey another of Kazantzakis'
criticisms of the Greek Orthodox religious establishment.
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It bears no relationship to the other events of the Cretan
sojourn of Zorba and the Boss, and therefore presented no
problem for the film director when he decided, for obvious
reasons, to eliminate almost all reference to it from the Ap movie.
82Infra, pp. 97-98.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER II
ZORBA--THE FILM AND ITS CREATOR
A. Michael Cacoyannis, Screenwriter, Director and Producer
1. Background.
The life of Michael Cacoyannis, creator of the film
version of Zorba, is strikingly parallel to that of his
compatriot and older contemporary, Mikos Kazantzakis,
creator of the literary version. Both were born on
Mediterranean islands--Kazantzakis on Crete and Cacoyannis
on Cyprus. Both are Greek by ethnic background and cultural
tradition, but neither was born under the Greek flag, and
it fell to both to see their native island torn by ethnic
strife and wars of liberation from foreign rule. Both
men were educated in national capitals away from home--
Kazantzakis in Athens, Cacoyannis in London--and both were
influenced, in their formative years, as much by foreign as
by their native milieus. Both studied law and both earned
academic distinction, but neither chose to practice the
profession for which he had been trained. Instead,
Kazantzakis entered the world of letters and Cacoyannis the
performing arts. Both were so successful that each became,
in his respective field, the leading and best known Greek
of his generation, perhaps most instrumental in presenting
and interpreting modern Greek culture to the outside world and bringing his homeland closer to the mainstream of European
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life. While Kazantzakis is the most widely translated
author ever to write in modern Greek, Cacoyannis is credited
with "helping to put the Greek movie industr"y on the cultural
map of the world.
Michael Cacoyannis was born in Limassol, Cyprus, in
June, 1922, the oldest of four children of an upper middle
class urban family. His father. Sir Panayiotis Loizou
Cacoyannis, was a successful criminal lawyer and public
servant, knighted by the British Crown in 1936 for his services
to His Majesty's Colonial Government. He was, "an unconsciously 2 domineering person due to his strong personality," who saw
in his first son "the extension of his intellectuality."
Here again, the parallel between Cacoyannis and Kazantzakis
is evident. Both were sons of overpowering fathers who saw
their sons as images (successful or not) of themselves, and
neither son was able to assert his own individuality.
Cacoyannis recalls himself as an adolescent without much
personality, living in a "secret world for as long as I
remember, always interested in the arts and especially in 4 the theatre, primarily as an actor," but never venturing
^"Michael Cacoyannis," Current Biography, Vol. XXVII, No. 5 (May I966), p.5 . p Michael Cacoyannis, personal interview with the author at Algonquin Hotel, New York, 25 Mar I967.
^Costas Bastias, an article on M. Cacoyannis, Alpha, ^thens, Greece/ No. 40 (May 12, 19o6 ),p.5 7 .
^Cacoyannis, Interview.
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to dream of rejecting the path laid out for him by his
father even before his birth. In an interview with Walter
S. Ross of The New York Times, Cacoyannis recalled his
father's attitude: "He wanted me to be a lawyer. I never
told him that I wanted to act.
That young Cacoyannis was stage-struck, however, vras
all too evident. He participated enthusiastically in all
school dramatic activities and always competed eagerly for the
leading, roles. He never lost an opportunity to organize
little theater shows at home, starring his younger brother
and sisters, over their protests, since they were not in the
least interested in the arts and disliked acting.^ Not
surprisingly, his straightlaced father considered the cinema
to be a corrupting influence on youth, and forbade his children
to patronize it; a prohibition which Michael, also not sur
prisingly, persistently defied. For the rest, he was a
voracious' reader, consuming a novel a day, and early evinced
a talent for writing. All this did not leave the boy much
time for playing like other children of his age; and again
one is reminded of Kazantzakis and the incident of the trans
lation of the Larousse Encyclopedia into Greek. Even at play
^Walter S. Ross, "Greek Bearing Film Gifts," The New York Times, January 24, I965, Part II, p. 9-
*^Cacoyannis, Interview.
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he revealed himself as an individualist and a loner; he
avoided team sports, such as soccer, in favor of individual
sports such as tennis, where he could shine as the star and
center of the stage.
Upon graduation from high school in Cyprus, the young
man went to London, according to his father's plan, to study
law. In spite of his disinclination for this profession, he
made up his mind to do well, and in fact, succeeded astonish
ingly well. When barely 21 years of age, he received his
law degree from Gray's Inn and was admitted to the bar.
But at this point the predictable pattern of his life
was disrupted by the outbreak of World War II, a conflict that
became a turning point in his life. His examinations over,
he was unable to return to Cyprus and found himself cut loose
in the beleaguered capital of the British Empire, free to
follow his own career inclinations but by the same token,
obliged to support himself. He accordingly decided to explore
the possibility of carving a career in the theater. This led
him to the British Broadcasting Company, where he became a
translator-announcer for the Overseas Section. From this he
went on to become the producer of a special cultural program,
broadcast three times a week to the people of Greece and
Cyprus. This program provided, not only a means of support,
but also an invaluable opportunity to meet and work with many
prominent Greek literary figures. Chief among these was
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Nikos Kazantzakis, who wrote and narrated some of the BBC
programs produced by Cacoyannis. I-n later years it was a
source of considerable pride for Cacoyannis to recall that
he was able to offer financial assistance to Kazantzakis
through the BBC at a time when the latter was relatively
unknown in literary circles outside of Greece.
Faithful to his stage-struck youth, Cacoyannis
eventually decided to try for an acting career, and he en
rolled in the Central School of Drama of the Old Vic Theater, 7 where he took his diploma after a year of study. His first
role came in 1947, very soon after his graduation, when he
played Herod in Oscar Wilde's Salome. "A very thoughtless
thing to have done," Cacoyannis commented later, "since I g was too young for the part." But the fledgling actor enjoyed
the role, and surprisingly, received some good reviews. He
was not particularly impressed with his own performance, but
others found that he had played the part with considerable
emotional power.
But, having realized his childhood ambition to act,
Cacoyannis began to find that he had outgrown it. He later
Who's Who in America, Vol. 34 (1966-6 7 ) p. 317. During World War II the Central School of Dramatic Arts in London did not have the full three year curriculum. g Cacoyannis, Interview.
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admitted that he never felt at ease with acting, and in- Q creasingly found himself rejecting it. He was unhappy
spending his time backstage, and horrified by the recurring
monotony of the actor's fate--the repetition of the same
role, night after night. For him, the creative process ended 10 with the first performance.
He began to look in new directions. He enrolled, in
his spare time, in a special course, the first of its kind,
offered by the Old Vic for directors and set designers. He
proved less than a model student, as his individualistic
temperament and the force of his own ideas led him to disagree
consistently with the professor, and with this abortive ex
perience, his formal academic training in theatrical direction
came to an end. During the same period, however, he came
under an influence that was to have far more important
effect on his career. For two years, he was coached by a
private teacher, a relatively unknown figure in theatrical
and movie circles, to whom he later acknowledged his great
indebtedness. She was Henrica Saffrian, a Viennese Jewess
who had come to London as a refugee from Hitler. More than
twice Cacoyannis' age, she was, in Cacoyannis' own words,
a "brilliant woman" through whom he found "the true balance ,,11 between physical and emotional expression. She saw in him
^Ibid. l°Ibid. ^^Ibld
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a potentially great actor, and she determined to lead him
beyond the phony glamour of the stage to an appreciation of
the true standards of theatrical hierophant. She pushed him
to the last extremes in terms of self-examination, and he
later acknowledged her unique individual contribution to his 12 professional development.
Though dissatisfied and restless with the London
stage, Cacoyannis at this time had no conscious thought of
becoming a film director, far less "that most industrious,
perhaps, of all triple threats, a director, producer and 13 writer of his own scripts." But the seed sprouted un
expectedly in the early 1950's, when, beset by a growing
nostalgia for Greece, he re-read the novel Eroica by the
Greek author Kosmas Politis, and was inspired to turn it into
a screenplay under the title of Our Last Spring. By this
12 Cacoyannis stated, in his interview with this author, that he worships no "special idols ;" he considers himself a student of life itself rather than of any particu lar philosophical school of great artist, and he feels that the people who have influenced his life and work have been "less conspicuous" than those who influenced Kazantzakis. To this general rule he admits the single exception of Henrica Saffrian. 1? Current Biography, op. cit. Though Cacoyannis dis claimed in his interview witTi this author, any intention at this stage to change his career, his unconscious state of mind was perhaps accurately characterized by a critic who commented: "A theatrical role, even the most important, is simply a role. What Michael Cacoyannis wanted was to express his own esoteric inner world and the inspiration of his Imagination through the great compositions on which the director
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time he had decided that he could no longer stay on in
England, which remained a foreign country to him, in spite
of the thirteen of his most formative years that he had spent
there. He felt that the "British temperament and the British
landscape, with all that green," was suffocating him, and 14 that he had no roots in England. Having written his
screenplay, he understandably convinced himself that such a
film could only be produced in Greece; and the comments he
received on his individualistic and original approach to
screen writing emboldened him to think, for the first time,
of producing it himself. But, like many another successful
director, he had to travel the beginner's road, strewn with
early disappointments. His first attempt to produce his
own scenario was fruitless. He was unable to obtain the
necessary financial backing in England, France or the
United States, and he returned to Greece a deeply disappointed
man.
His luck, however, was soon to change; for he had
entered the Greek movie industry at a most opportune time.
Though it had emerged from the embryonic stage at the time
places his own seal, from beginning to end, from alpha to omega." (C. Bastias, Alpha, Op. cit.) l4 Cacoyannis, Interview.
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of his homecoming in 1953, the industry was still narrowly
parochial and isolated in outlook and content and consequent
ly was imprisoned, from the point of view of its market
and its cultural impact, within the boundaries of its own
country. Its productions were swallowed up in the darkness
of the movie houses of Greece, and few became known abroad;
the industry had learned almost nothing from, and contributed
almost nothing to, the mainstream of filmic cultural ex
pression In the Western world. It was ripe for the touch
of a man like Cacoyannis— Greek born and foreign trained,
and able, by virtue of his background, both to identify
with its native roots and to interpret them in terms accept
able to foreign audiences. 15 Like Kazantzakis before him, Cacoyannis achieved a
smash hit on his first attempt in the new medium. His first
film was Windfall in Athens, a light comedy of which he was
writer, director and producer. It took almost two years to
complete, partly because Cacoyannis had to master the film
technique by trial and error. Released in 1954, it was
acclaimed best picture of the season and earned the distinction
15 It will be remembered that Kazantzakis' first play. The Day Breaks, won a national drama competition and, when produced in Athens in 1907, enjoyed a run of four perfor- mances--an important event in the Greek capital in those days--and earned its writer a reputation as a powerful talent, though his work was rather bold for his time. As Lile Zographou comments, "for three months, from May to July, all the newspapers in Athens were occupied with Nikos Kazantzakis." (Nikos Kazantzakis: The Tragic One, op. cit., p. 48).
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of selection as the Greek entry in the Edinburgh Film
Festival of that year. Besides the acclaim of film critics,
it won for its director the praise of one of the most highly
respected members of the Greek movie industry. Director
Nikos Tsiforos, who anticipated, in his comments, the essence
of what critics, movie makers and audiences would come to
expect from Cacoyannis with every new film he produced.
Tsiforos declared Windfall to be a perfect movie--not for its
story, which was nothing more than a simple comedy, but for
the excellence of the scenario writing, directing and editing.
Cacoyannis opened new roads for us in these respects, for which we are very much indebted. We greet his film with real joy, as something new and^perfect, and we must try to learn from its good points.1°
Cacoyannis went on to produce Stella, his second film,
which won a Golden Globe from Hollywood's Foreign Correspon
dent's Association. During the following five years, however,
his output was not prolific; he produced only four new films
in this period, interrupting his movie work from time to time
to direct stage productions for Athens theatrical companies.
He himself explained this by saying that he felt himself to
be a creator, and, being a perfectionist, had difficulty in
Fr. Iliadis, *0 'EXX-nvLxdc; PCtvniiatoYpacpoc;, I906-I960. /The Greek Movie Industry, I906-I9607 (Athens, Greece; ""Fantasia" Publications/p.dj^), p. 100,
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meeting his own exacting standards in the search for raw
material fit to be turned into film. By the time he decided
to film Zorba, however, he had established a firm reputation,
at home and abroad, as a movie maker of talent, experience
and sophistication on a par with the current level of the
industry outside Greece--probably the most outstanding of
her profession among the Greeks. Internationally, he was
considered "by no means a Bergman, but still a name synony- 17 mous with his country's cinema."
2. Cacoyannis and Zorba--The Germination of the Film.
As an artist and film-maker, Cacoyannis is a believer
in the value of original scenarios written exclusively for
the screen, and his primary interest has always been to
create original screenplays. As a man living in society,
however, and especially as the leading cinematic interpreter
of his nation's culture, he is inevitably exposed to ideas
and stories conceived by other minds, and it is equally
inevitable that he should turn some of these into films.
Zorba the Greek, the seventh film produced by Cacoyannis, l8 is the third one to be based on another's novel.
Penelope Houston, The Contemporary Cinema fPenguin Books, 1963.. A Pelican Original, Pelican Ëook A636), p. I56 .
^^The first two were Eroika, based on the novel by Kosmas Politis, and The Wastrel, based on the novel by Frederic Wakeman.
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The germ of the venture lay with Kazantzakis himself,
who frequently renewed his acquaintance with Cacoyannis on
the occasion of showing the letter's films in Cannes, France.
Kazantzakis repeatedly expressed, on these occasions, the
desire that Cacoyannis might some day film one of his own
plays or novels. Though he never specifically mentioned
Zorba in this connection, and though there was never a hint 19 that the two men might collaborate in making a film, the
famous author admired the work of his younger compatriot and
believed in his interpretive ability in the cinematic medium.
But it was only after Kazantzakis' death and at the instiga
tion of his widow, who offered Cacoyannis free rights to
Zorba and expressed her own hope that he would film it, that
he seriously considered the possibility and re-read the novel
with this in mind.
Cacoyannis had already read, in Greek, the original
Life and Adventures of Alexis Zorba. Significantly, his
second reading was of the English translation, Zorba the Greek.
For in producing Zorba, Cacoyannis faced not only the
19 After the release of the film version of Zorba, however, Cacoyannis stated that he would have asked the author to act as his advisor, if it had been possible: "If he had been alive, I most certainly would have gone to him after writing the script of Zorba, and submitted it to him and discussed it with him. I am sure he would have approved of what I did. I knew Kazantzakis. He would have been less tied to the novel than I was." Cacoyannis, Interview.
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necessity of writing a scenario, but also the additional
necessity, as he saw it, of producing the film in English.
An English version, in his view, was desirable, if not
imperative, for two reasons. One was the relative ease of
obtaining financing for an English production, and its
greater potential impact, in view of the vastness of the
English-speaking market as compared to the limited Greek
speaking public. But a more important, indeed decisive
reason, was the problem of casting Zorba. As Cacoyannis re
vealed to this author, "there was not one Greek actor able
to play Zorba. This was a sad fact but it was absolutely 20 true." But there was an internationally-known actor, the
Mexican-born American Anthony Quinn, who was a friend of
Cacoyannis', who had had experience (in The Guns of Navarone)
in the Greek surrounding, and who, to Cacoyannis' mind, was
the perfect Zorba. Since Quinn does not speak Greek, there
fore, the film perforce had to be produced in English.
In fact, the movie-maker was so firmly convinced of
the appropriateness of Quinn as Zorba that he refused even
20 Cacoyannis, Interview. Interestingly enough, when Cacoyannis went to Crete to begin the shooting of Zorba, he did find a real Greek Zorba, a villager made from all the elements of which Kazantzakis had constructed his semi-real hero; but he was unable, of course, to use him, as he neither spoke English nor had any experience of working in front of a camera.
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to begin writing the screen play without Quinn's assurance
that he would play the role. The actor had read the novel,
showed great enthusiasm for the idea of portraying Kazantzakis'
hero, and accepted without hesitation Cacoyannis' proposal
to play it. The role appealed to Quinn to the point that when
Cacoyannis, unsatisfied and frustrated at his own attempts
to produce a scenario for Zorba, advised him that their
preliminary agreement might never materialize, the actor
was unusually understanding of the writer's position and agreed
to wait. For his part, the writer never wavered in his
custom-tailoring of the screenplay to accommodate the
personality of Zorba to the potentialities of Quinn:
It is better to transpose and achieve a complete portrayal, than to aim to fit into an original pattern and fail half-way. By the time I had finished the screenplay, I had in mind, not Zorba, but Quinn-Zorba. I was writing with Quinn in mind. I happened to know Quinn quite well, and so it was not Just a Zorba without a face; it had to be Quinn. In my mind was only Quinn; and that is how you create successfully.
In his interview with this author, Cacoyannis claimed
to have appropriated the raw material of Kazantzakis' novel
as his own and to have treated it with complete freedom,
selecting and changing as he saw fit, so as to achieve a product
that would appear originally conceived for film. He dis
claimed any obligation or any intention to be bound by the
21 Cacoyannis, Interview.
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terms of Kazantzakis' conceptions, and asserted his own
right, as an artist working in a different medium, to take
whatever liberties he found appropriate in order to trans
pose the literary to the filmic Zorba. Indeed, he went so
far as to state that he departed completely from Kazantzakis'
Zorba to produce a new hero who could not be identified with
the literary figure. As he put it;
I was not interested in Kazantzakis' Zorba. I was interested in the making of the film Zorba, and the way Kazantzakis took Zorba from real life, I took from Kazantzakis. I felt as though I was creating the character--and this is legitimate. It is what any self-respecting author would expect another talented person to do.^^
This attitude coincides with the strongly individual
istic personality of the movie-maker and reflects his belief
in the superiority of original screenplay over novelistic
material adapted to film. It is also an implicit recognition
of the intrinsic difference between the novel and the film 23 expressed by George Bluestone. Whether it is a strictly
accurate description of Cacoyannis' actual treatment of Zorba,
however, is another question. A comparison of the novel and
22 Cacoyannis, Interview. 23 "The end products of novel and film represent aesthetic genera, as different from each other as ballet frpm.-_architecture. The film becomes a different in the sense that a historical painting becomes a different thing from the historical event which it illustrates. " George Bluestone, Novels into Film (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1^6l), p. 5.
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the film will reveal that Cacoyannis exaggerates the extent
to which he actually availed himself of this artistic license
and that, with due allowance for the limitations imposed by
the intrinsic nature of his medium, he followed Kazantzakis 24 far more closely than he admits,
Another claim made by Cacoyannis concerns the uni
versality of the character of Zorba. Kazantzakis, in creating
his hero, gave him a character that is specifically Greek.
Cacoyannis states that he, for his part, in writing the
screenplay of Zorba, conceived of the hero as a universal
figure that could be placed in any country or city of the
world. By the same token, he felt that he could find a "real" 25 Zorba to play the part as well in Athens, Paris or Chicago.
By his statements, he seems implicitly to disclaim any in
tention to act as an interpreter of specifically Greek cul
ture to the outside world. The reality of his position is
quite the contrary. He is, in fact, in his own medium, as
much the leading exponent and interpreter of modern Greece
as Kazantzakis was in literature. It must be remembered that
he is a member of a film industry that is just beginning to
move from a national to an international dimension (a
movement that is due in large part to his own efforts). In
24 Infra. Sequence in Novel and Film, pp. 90-98. 25 Cacoyannis, Interview.
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doing so, the Industry is faced with the problem of inter
preting a country whose ancient history and culture is well
known and highly idealized abroad, but whose modern culture
is almost totally unknown. Moreover, the movement to the
international dimension has been distorted to some extent
by the wide distribution abroad of certain films produced
by foreign moviemakers that present a false, or at least
a grossly exaggerated, film image of modern Greece. (Perhaps
the principal case in point is the film Never on Sunday,
written and produced by the American director Jules Dassin. )
If the Greek film industry is to preserve its integrity
in the course of its movement abroad, it must avoid the
trap of the purely picturesque element of modern Greek life
and present Greek themes in such a way as to make them
intelligible to foreign audiences without over-emphasizing
their national origins. What is needed is to present what
is universal in Greek life, in universal terms, preserving
but not distorting the purely Greek. That the Greek film 25 industry has not yet succeeded in this is an admitted fact.
As one Greek film critic wrote : "The attempt to break in is the reason why the film art in Greece has not developed a cinematographic personality of its own, but instead has followed a pattern blended of mythology and the purely picturesque in informing western audiences about Greece." Yan. Bacoyannoppulo^'O MtxaXn<; Kaxoytdvvnc; xaC od xCvôuvoL tou ô u eOv top ou. /Michael Cacoyannis and the dangers of internatlonallsmT^Bleftheria (Athens, Greece), 10 Aug. 1966, p. 2.
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That Cacoyannis is qualified to contribute significantly
to this effort is evident from his background; that he actually
tries to do so is reflected by the comment of those, who
say of him that although "he evokes universal insight into
human behavior, he tends to accent things that are G r e e k . "^7
This is an observation with which anyone who has followed
Cacoyannis' film career would probably agree.
B. Zorba the Greek, the Film
1. Translation of Book to Film— Potentialities and Limitations 28 Lester D. Asheim, in his doctoral dissertation, has
revolved a numerical scale for measuring the degree of carry
over from a novel to a film, based on his comparison of 24
popular novels, published in the century and a half between
1813 and 1941, with their film versions. The scale ranges
from zero, representing an absolutely literal transference
of book to screen with no deviation whatsoever, to 100,
representing a completely original film play devoid of any
carry-over whatever. The lower the numerical rating of a
film, on this scale, the more faithful is the film adaptation
to the book.
?Lily Poyser, (Twentieth Century-Fox Production Ltd., London), a biographical sketch of Michael Cacoyannis, to the author, and Current Biography, op. cit. 28 Lester D. Asheim, "From Book to Film" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Chicago, 1949).
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Asheim, in rating his 24 selected samples according
to this scale, places all 24 between a minimum'rating of 11
and a maximum of 62; of these, only two of the films selected
exceed a deviation rate of 50. The sample expresses numeri
cally what others have said in words: that it is impossible
to transform a literary work to a movie without some degree
of deviation from the original. "Changes are inevitable
the moment one abandons the linguistic for the visual medium,"
wrote Bluestone.^^ And Berelson is of the opinion that
"different media . . . treat the same topics in different
ways."3°
Michael Cacoyannis, in filming Zorba, has not escaped
the operation of this rule. His treatment of the subject
matter of Zorba differs from that of Kazantzakis, and the
inevitable changes appear in his film. Some of these changes
arise necessarily from the nature of the novelistic material
and the intrinsic difference between the two media, novel
and film--a difference that Bluestone defines as lying
"between the percept of the visual image and the concept of 31 a mental image." Others are the results of the practical
^^George Bluestone, Novels into Film (Berkeleyand Los Angeles: University of California Press, I96I), p. 5. 30 Bernard Berelson, Content Analysis in Communication Research (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, Publishers, 1952), p.39 31 Bluestone, op. cit., p. 1.
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circumstances faced by the movle-maker and the realities of
the movie industry; and still others derive from the person
ality and Judgment of the movie-maker himself, since he is
the decision-maker ultimately responsible for retaining,
interpreting or omitting the material provided by the novelist
But with due allowance for these imperatives, a comparative
analysis will reveal an extra-ordinarily high degree of
fidelity of the film adaption to the novel. Cacoyannis'
claim to have taken full artistic license with Kazantzakis' 32 text does not stand up under examination. In actual fact,
almost all of the changes made were changes dictated by the
nature of the medium, and within this limitation, Cacoyannis
has followed the novel very closely indeed.
It does not necessarily follow, however, that the
finished products in the two media bear any great resemblance
to each other. Considered as a potential film, Kazantzakis'
novel leaves a great deal to be desired. It is lengthy,
rambling in style, lacking in overt action and filled with
passive material--reminiscences, description, introspection
and philosophical speculation--much of which is completely
extraneous to the story and all of which is unsuitable for
film. The plot depends for its consistency more on psycho
logical character analysis than on action, and the few
32 Supra, pp, '6$-^70.
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active scenes it does provide are related to each other only
in terms of the reactions of the•characters to the events
described; the events themselves have no cohesiveness. The
construction of an acceptable finished product out of such
material is possible only to a skilled writer and only in
the literary medium. It is not possible in film. Bluestone
might well have had Zorba in mind in commenting that:
Because its mode of beholding allows stops and starts, thumbing back, skipping, flipping ahead, and so lets the reader set his own pace, a novel can afford diffuse ness where the film must economize. Where the mode of beholding in the novel allows the reader to control his rate, the film viewer is bound by the relentless rate of a projector which he cannot control. The results, as may be expected, are felt in the contrast between the loose, more variegated conventions of the novel and the tight, compact conventions of the film.33
Because of the ability of the camera to capture and
portray action and movement and its inability to depict thought
or commentary, the film version of a novel will necessarily
concentrate upon the plot at the expense of psychological
character-analysis, introspection or commentary. As Asheim
points out, film technology requires that verbal symbols be
translated into visual symbols--symbols that can be photographed
This being the case, the portions of any novel that will
suffer most from transposition to film are essentially its
non-visual aspects: abstract ideas and concepts; commentary
33 Bluestone, o£. cit., p. 50.
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can the film-maker, as Ernest Lindgren points out, "rely so
extensively as the novelist on description, at least of the
verbal kind . . . it is not enough for him to describe
character, he must reveal it in action.Yet it is
precisely the non-visual aspects--description, character
analysis, introspection and abstract conceptualization--that
form the substance of Kazantzakis' book and precisely the
visual aspects in which it is weak. Moreover, the film-maker
must make every effort to achieve unity in the flow of action,
since this unity is more essential, and the lack of it more
evident, in a film than in a novel; yet it is precisely the
lack of any such unity between the active events in Kazantzakis'
Zorba that is one of the most striking features of the novel.
In filming Zorba, therefore, Cacoyannis' first problem
was one of dealing with the abundance of passive material in
the novel--of deciding what portion of this material was to
be eliminated and what portion to be translated into visual
symbols, and how this translation was to be accomplished.
Although some of this material--reminiscences, letters, des
cription of Crete and the like--is extraneous even to the novel
^^Asheim, op. c i t ., p. 135.
^^Ernest Lindgren, "The Art of the Film" (New York; The Macmillan Company), p. 547
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and therefore Is easily eliminated, a considerable portion
of it is fundamental to the story as conceived by Kazantzakis
and cannot be eliminated without producing a different story
altogether. This is particularly true of the introspective
material that forms the basis of the characterization of the
Boss. Kazantzakis' novel is built around a polarity in the
portrayal of Zorba and the Boss. Zorba is the actor, the Boss
is the thinker, and the plot of the novel consists largely
of the contrast between their reactions to events. For the
characterization of a thinker, introspective material is
essential, and its elimination necessarily weakens the
characterization and reduces the role of the thinker, result
ing, in the case of Zorba, in the destruction of the polarity
which is the basis of the book.
In his treatment of Zorba. Cacoyannis in fact chose
to destroy this polarity. He has eliminated almost all
passive material, including that which contributes to the
characterization of the Boss, who is thereby reduced from a
major protagonist to the status of a mere supporting character
His film is not, therefore, the story of two opposing ways
of life, but the story of a single man, and that man is Zorba.
This is the major and all-pervading difference between the
novel and the film. As a change, it responds to the realities
of the film industry. Zorba is the actor, and the film re
quires action for its development; therefore of necessity
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the character of Zorba must be emphasized at the expense of
that of the more passive Boss. It is, moreover, consistent
with the "star system" which is a major factor in the opera
tion of the film industry, and which calls for the build-up
of a starring role at the expense of all others. As has been
stated, Cacoyannis conceived and wrote the scenario on Zorba
in terms of the personality of a particular star--the Mexican-
American actor Anthony Quinn--whose performance in the film
was to Cacoyannis a eine qua non for its very production, not
to mention its success. Upon Quinn as an actor fell the
burden of the film's artistic success, and upon Quinn as a
drawing card depended, at least in part, its profits. That
these considerations justify the emphasis on Zorba cannot be
denied. Whether they justify the demotion of a major pro
tagonist to a relatively unimportant supporting character,
and the ruthless elimination of even the essential passive
elements of Kazantzakis' text,■is another question. It might
be argued that the film medium would permit, even though with
difficulty, a deeper exploration of certain aspects of
Kazantzakis' novel, including the character of the Boss,
that Cacoyannis chose not to attempt, and perhaps even failed
fully to understand and appreciate.
Judicious or not, the elimination of nearly all
passive material left Cacoyannis with very little raw material
from which to fashion his film. The active passages of the
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novel consist entirely of several minor episodes (the mining
operation, Zorba's dalliance with Lola, etc.) and three major
episodes (ths Zorba-Hortense affair, the Boss-Widow affair,
and the monastery episode). None of these episodes bear any
close relationship to each other, and of the major episodes
one, the monastery visit, contains much that is taboo to the
film maker because it constitutes an attack on the religious
establishment and thus falls afoul of the Production Code.
Upon this rather slender plot, therefore, hangs the whole sub
stance of the film. As a comparative examination will reveal,
Cacoyannis has made the fullest possible use of this material,
preserving it almce t intact and introducing only minor changes
as dictated by the exigencies of the film medium.
Kazantzakis' prose, in its English version (upon which
the scenario is based) runs to 339 pages, or approximately
150,000 words, divided into 26 chapters. Cacoyannis' script
consists of the dialogue, running to less than 4,500 words, and
the continuity, which comprises a little more than 1,000 frames
of aerial, medium, long and close shots and close-ups. The com
pleted film is mounted on l4 separate 35-hm. reels with head and
tail on each reel. The film is 12, 776.06 feet long and runs for
two hours, 21' and 58". The following comparative examination
of novel and film is based on the English translation of 36 Zorba by Carl Wildman and on the Dialogue and Continuity
36 Supra, p. 19, footnote 2 5 .
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of the film acquired from the Motion Picture Section of
the Library of Congress.
2. Setting
Zorba, in both novel and film, is set in Crete. The
movie was filmed on location in Crete, and the exterior
scenes and the extras are largely Cretan. The film, however,
differs from the novel in that it places little or no emphasis
on the things Cretan that the novel goes out of its way to
glorify. Kazantzakis was a Cretan patriot, and one of his
major purposes in writing Zorba was to present and interpret
his native land to outsiders, both Greek and foreign. To this
end, he frequently digressed from his story to introduce ex
tensive descriptive material and historical and sociological
vignettes pertaining to Crete, and he peopled his novel with
a number of characters who serve primarily as spokesmen for _
the expression of Cretan village culture and mores. Among
the instances of this Cretan preoccupation are the sea voyage
to Crete, featuring an enraptured description of the Aegean
and a nostalgic monologue by Zorba on his previous experiences
in Crete as a volunteer guerilla in one of the island's 37 revolts against the Turks; the feast in the home of Uncle
Anagnosti, intended to depict the home life of the Cretan
peasant and to convey the reminiscences of the old man on the qO island's redent past; the Boss's visits to the prehistoric
37Kazantzakis, Zorba, pp. 21, 26-30.
• ~ S^Ibid., pp. 67-7 4 .
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ruins at Knossos and to a nearby modern convent, and his 39 meditations on the Cretan past and present.
These and other scenes are intended only to convey
an appreciation for the island and its people; they are,
by and large, extraneous to the development of the plot.
Cacoyannis rightly considered this material as an unnecessary
digression, and eliminated most of it in the interest of economy
and unity in the film-making process. Of the Cretan scenes
mentioned above, the feast at Uncle Anagnosti's and the
visits to the Minoan city and the convent do not appear at
all in the film, and the sea voyage is telescoped into a
comic sequence of a rough passage, primarily featuring a
sea-sick Zorba who is in no condition to reminisce or philoso
phize about anything. Kazantzakis' poetic description of
the Aegean is reduced to a single long shot of a ship in a
rough sea--an attenuation that is completely Justified, since
Cacoyannis is not making a travelogue, and the black-and-
white camera is in any case unable to do Justice to
Kazantzakis' prose. The comic montage sequence immediately
following this shot, however, is in dubious taste and little
relevance to the story, and adds nothing to Cacoyannis'
reputation for directorial sensitivity. It consists of 14
medium shots of passengers stumbling and sliding around a
heavily pitching ship, with added details intended to give
comic emphasis to Zorba's discomfort--a plump girl eating
39.Ibid., pp. 188-193.
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apples from a full basket, a wisp of Basil's cigarette
smoke in Zorba's face, etc. The sequence is a far cry from
the corresponding scene in the novel, which contains much of
Zorbatic wisdom on a number of subjects and serves as an
introduction to his complex personality. The entertainment
value of the film sequence does not justify the precious
minutes devoted to it.
Elsewhere in the film, Cacoyannis ' lack of interest in
the Cretan background of the novel is reflected by the fact
that the exterior sets of the film version are, by and large,
inferior in quality to the interior sets. The latter show
considerable imagination in re-creating the backdrops of the
novel, and the.constitute a definite contribution to the
success of the film interpretation. The reconstructions of
the village cafe and of Madame Hortense's hotel are especially
effective.' For the episode in Piraeus, Cacoyannis adds an
interior set that does not appear in the novel--that of the
debarkation waiting room where Zorba, in the film, first
meets Basil. This encounter, in the novel, takes place in
a waterfront cafe. The film version retains the cafe as the
place to which Basil and Zorba retire to await the delayed
departure of the ship; the waiting room was probably added
in order to provide a more modern background for the
sailing, and was probably necessary to fit the present
appearance of the port of Piraeus, where the episode was
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filmed. The busy, well equipped modern port, built to
accommodate large ocean-going ships and a heavy international
tourist traffic, is a far cry from the sleepy little back
water port of the turn of the century that is depicted in
Kazantzakis' novel.
The most imaginative exterior setting of the film,
and the only one whose quality compares with that of the
interior sets, is that of the cable structure which symbolizes,
in its final collapse, the Zorbatic history of non-achievement.
The pylons erected from the top of a barren hill to the quiet
seashore reflect, by their ultimate fate, the futility of man's
efforts to harness nature. (This setting is the backdrop
for the most exuberant comic episode in the film, which
provides relief from the dramatic crescendo built up by the
drowning of Pavlos and the deaths of Madame Hortense and
.the Widow.)
3, Casting and Elimination of Characters
As was admitted by Cacoyannis himself, the casting
of Anthony Quinn in the title role of Zorba was the first and
most important single step in the production of the film.^^
Quinn was, in Cacoyannis' opinion, not only the best, but the
only actor for this role, and his consent to play it was a
^^Supra, pp. 67-6 8 .
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precondition for Cacoyannis to undertake the production of
the film in the first place. He secured Quinn's promise
in this regard before even embarking on the scenario, and
in writing it, he tailored the entire film to Quinn's
performance.
That the choice was a happy one is undeniable.
Kazantzakis describes Zorba as a modern pagan, very tall and
lean, a grey-haired man of sixty-odd, at once self-contained
and exuberant, always passionate, irrepressible, with an
unquenchable thirst for life and the resilience of a rubber
ball--an extraordinary Sinbad the Sailor with a flair for
talk and for work and for love. He is a man with a soul
too big for his skin. "He speaks and the world grows bigger,"
the writer comments in a letter to a friend. "Occasionally,
when words no longer suffice, he leaps up and dances." Quinn
fits this description, both physically and psychologically,
with his dark complexion (which the Western world would expect
in a Greek) and his features, which are almost oriental in
cast and capable simultaneously of outward impassivity and 4l inward mobility. He can exteriorize the same vitality and
intensity that one would expect of Kazantzakis' Zorba, and he
4l It is interesting to note that there is a marked physical resemblance between Quinn and the real George Zorba, upon whom Kazantzakis based hes novel. See the photograph of George Zorba in Yannis Anapliotis, The Real Zorba and Nikos Kazantzakis, op. cit.
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can do so with the economy of expression that suggests the
primitive and pagan. Cacoyannis has written the scenario in
such a way as to give him every opportunity to do so; he
is more generous in this respect with Zorba than Kazantzakis
was. In word and in action, Quinn-Zorba dominates the film
script, and he does so most successfully.
But if Cacoyannis' casting of Zorba is faithful to
Kazantzakis' concept, the casting of the Boss deviates from
the original to the point of producing an entirely different,
and much less important character. The Boss, in Kazantzakis'
novel, is the author himself--a Greek intellectual and man
of the world, but a Greek nevertheless, and moreover, a
Cretan, and to the manner born. If Kazantzakis' Boss is
somewhat emasculated by his excessively cerebral and mystical
approach to life, he has not lost his understanding of his 42 people, or his pride in his heritage, or his symbiotic
relationship to his native earth. If he thinks like a Western
European intellectual, he is nevertheless capable of feeling
like a Cretan peasant. He is the firm partner of a friend
ship between two different personalities--his own and Zorba's
--who tested against each other their opposing philosophies
42 • Note, for instance, the Boss' immediate comprehension, in the novel, of the import of the villagers' reaction to Pavlos' death for the safety of the Widow (Supra, p. 46).
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of life. But Cacoyannis, in casting the Boss, has re-
christened him Basil and made of him an Englishman, the son
of a Greek father, but an Englishman nonetheless, and a
foreigner in Greece--an observer, not participant in Greek
life. The role is played by the British actor Alan Bates,
a heavy, boyish-looking man, shy in expression but athletic
in figure, with round face, large eyes and a thick nose, and
with all the mannerisms of an Englishman--the type that wins
the Battle of Waterloo on the playing fields of Eton. He
does not speak Greek and is totally lost in the Greek environ
ment. He is so English, that Cacoyannis finds it necessary
to justify his very presence in Greece, in the first scene of
the film, by having him explain that he has inherited a lig
nite mine from his Greek father and has no idea how to go
about exploiting it. Zorba, for his part, takes him for a
complete foreigner.
Zorba: "You'fe English, no?" Basil: "Half." Zorba: "Half?" Basil: "My father was Greek, but, er, I was born in England," n? Zorba: "Ah, the same thing." ^
By thus reducing the Boss (Basil) to the status of a
tourist and making him fully dependent on Zorba for his very
existence in Greece, Cacoyannis demotes him from partner and
43 Dialogue, Zorba the Greek, reel 1 (Library of Congress, Motion Picture Section).
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disciple to straight man and satellite, and makes of him a
mere supporting character rather than a protagonist— enhanc
ing, in the process, the role of Zorba, This fundamental 44 departure from Kazantzakis' text was deplored by some Greek
critics, justified by others. One critic, who in other
respects praised the film version of Zorba, commented that
"the most obvious, and perhaps unacceptable, change, is that 45 of the Greek author to an Englishman." Another excused
the change on the grounds that the novel, after all, revolves
around Zorba, and that everything else--the other characters
and the events--are included for the sole purpose of under
lining the philosophy of "that last faunus of Greek mythology.
In fact, the change is at least partially justified by the
exigencies of adapting a Greek novel, written by a Greek
about a Greek theme for a Greek public (if, indeed, for any
public at all), to a film of international dimensions, produced
44 See the discussion of the polarity of character of Zorba and the Boss, Supra, Chapter I, p. 21, and the comment on Cacoyannis' destruction of this basic element of the novel. Supra, Chapter II, p. 77.
^^G. K. Pelihos, KLvrinaxoYPatptxin xplxlkt) :V 'AXc^nc Zopintac." /Film Review: Zorba the Greek/ Nea,(March 16, 196% p. 2.
^^Marios Ploritis, *h àvttotpoçfî toü " Zopintâ." /7orbds inversion/ Elef theria ( March 17; 1965); p. 2. The assumption of predominance of Zorba in the novel is question able; see footnote 44, this page.
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in English and intended to interpret a facet of Greek life
to a Western audience. The attitude of one Greek toward
another is understood by a third Greek, but its interpreta
tion to a foreigner is difficult and delicate, even in the
literary medium, and constitutes an unnecessary complication
in conveying Greek life to a foreign audience on film. The
naturalization of the Boss as an Englishman permits the
Western moviegoer to see Zorba through the eyes of another
Westerner like himself. It also permits the Boss to speak
English without arousing any particular interest or curiosity-
which is imperative, since the movie was produced in English--
and explain his general unfamiliarity with Greek life and
customs. To Western audience, Zorba is an exotic foreigner;
the film cannot afford a second character who is a foreigner
to the audience and a compatriot to Zorba. On the other
hand, the alienation of the Boss from his Greek nationality
puts beyond him the introspective ruminations on being Greek
that are characteristic of the Boss in the novel and that
form one side of his essential conflict with himself. It is
this conflict, in the novel, that raises him to the psycho
logical and moral stature of a major protagonist capable
of maintaining counterpoint with Zorba and it is the lack of
this conflict in the film that reduces him to an unimpressive
supporting character.
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The third main character in Zorba is Madame Hortense,
played in the film version by the Russian-born French
actress, Lila Kedrova. Miss Kedrova's selection to play
this role was fortuitous; the role was originally offered
to the French actress Simone Signoret. It was not until
Miss Signoret, at the last moment, declined to accept the
role that Miss Kedrova was hired by telephone and asked to
go to Greece to pinch-hit for her. She was given almost no
notice, and she did not, at the time, speak English at all,
but she rose to the occasion like a trooper. As.she herself
described it:
I had just stepped off the plane from Athens / ^ o Crete/ and I was freezing and without sleep. They put me in make-up and take my hair and make me look like an old pig, and I memorize a scene while they all wait and everyone is shouting at me, and finally I scream, "I am all right. Everybody shut up. I do the scene." Anthony Quinn is in tears, Alan Bates is crying, Cacoyannis is crying. He say "Dalink" like he knows me all my life, "no question any more. You play the part." 47
The quality of Miss Kedrova'sperformance, even under
such trying circumstances, is irreproachable, as is attested
by the fact that she won an Oscar as best supporting actress
for her role in Zorba. With her "old pig" make-up and her
petite figure, she provided a proper physical counterpart for
47 "Oscar Winner Lila Kedrova, Status, Vol. I, No. 1 (Oct. 1965),pp.56-5 7 .Miss Kedrova unveiled this story in a personal interview with the author at the Statler Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C. 15 Apr. 19^5.
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the much taller Anthony Quinn and embodied to perfection
Kazantzakis' description of Madame Hortense as "a dumpy, 48 plump little woman, with bleached, flax-colored hair."
Unfamiliar with Greece or with Kazantzakis' novel, much less
with the personality of the real prototype of Kazantzakis'
character, Adelina Guittar, she relied completely on
Cacoyannis' direction and played her part to perfection.
Even her inability to speak English enhanced her performance;
her heavy accent and broken grammar underlined her image as
a derelict stranger in a strange land, and supported the
illusion of a once-devastating French courtesan fallen on
evil days.
Irene Pappas was equally well cast as the Widow,
Sourmelina. Tall and slim, with long black hair, large dark
eyes and a Greek nose, she is too imposing a figure to
resemble a typical peasant, of Crete or of anywhere else on
earth. She does, however, bear a physical and psychological
resemblance to Kazantzakis' widow, who herself was no ordinary
peasant, but the incarnation of rampant femininity--Aphrodite,
the devourer of men. Miss Pappas has the necessary allure,
and the necessary presence, to portray to perfection the
arrogant, fearless and strong-willed woman, lithe, dangerous
and dazzling, who challenges the manhood and disturbs the
dreams of an entire village of males.
48 Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 35.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 91 The only other female character of any significance,
and one who appears in the novel only at second-hand through
Zorba's letter to the Boss, is Lola, the tavern tart who
engages Zorba in a mutual pick-up affair during his business 49 trip to Candia. Lola is described by Kazantzakis as a
"dusky little creature," but one who turns out, in Zorba's 50 words, to be completely "the female of the species." Her
appearance in the film is nearly as brief as it is in the novel;
it is limited to not more than ten shots inside the cabaret
and in her room, and even the latter are shared by the
pimply boy who, in her presence, acts as Zorba's scribe in
setting down, at Zorba's dictation, his letter to the Boss.
This episode is a good example of the transformation of the
purely verbal description to the visual image; the static
passages on Lola in Zorba's letter in the novel become active
with the performance of the Greek actress Eleni Anousaki,
who,with her girlish figure, her too-heavy make-up and her
too-tight clothes, renders a lively and believable Lola.
The remaining characters appearing in the film version
of Zorba are four of the Cretan villagers, all played by
Greek actors. These are, in the order of their importance, 51 Mimithos, the village idiot and the Widow's messenger and
49 Supra, Chapter I, p. 27.
^^Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. l68.
^^Called Mimiko in the translation of the novel.
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friend, played by Sotiris Moustakas; Pavlos, the spurned and
love-sick suitor of the Widow, played by George Voyadjis;
Mavradoni, Pavlos' stern and respectable father, played by
George Fountas; and Manolakas, the constable and relative
of the Mavradoni family, played by Takis Emmanuel. These
four represent a reduced roster of villagers as compared to
Kazantzakis' novel, but they are the essential characters for
the delineation of the plot.
The role of Mimithos in the film is somewhat expanded
as compared to his place in the novel. He fulfills, in the
film, some of the functions that in the novel are assigned
to other villagers; for instance, it is he, and not the cafe
proprietor, who announces the arrival in the village of
Zorba and Basil. While remaining a minor character, he is
more omnipresent and more active in the film version, though
perhaps somewhat less expressive than he is in the novel.
He is believably portrayed by Moustakas.
Pavlos, also, takes a more active part in the film
than in the novel. His agony of love-sick despair, which in
the novel is conveyed almost entirely by word-of-mouth report
and village gossip, is dramatized in the film by a scene
which does not appear in the novel, involving his attempt to
pass a love-letter to the Widow and subsequent wild wrestling-
match with his father who catches him in the act and attempts
to dissuade him, resorting to force when the young man persists
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Pavlos is believably portrayed by George Voyadjis, whose
youth and slimness lend credence to his performance as a
"pipsqueak" in love. George Fountas, however, is miscast
as his father, old Mavradoni. Kazantzakis' Mavradoni is a
stern, hawklike village patriarch, conservative and unbending,
whose only interest in the Pavlos-Widow affair is obviously
the salvation of his son. Fountas, even with the help of
heavy make-up, is too young a man to convey a patriarchal
impression; indeed, he is too young to be credible as Pavlos'
father. As a result, he unintentionally, but definitely,
projects the image of an older rival of Pavlos, with his own
axe to grind where the Widow's affections are concerned, and
not at all exclusively concerned with the salvation of his
son or his family honor. The burning impression, noticed
by Quinn-Zorba, and clearly resulting, in the novel, from
outraged dignity and family pride, in the film becomes the
ill-concealed simmering of simple male passion--an impression
that is enhanced by the look of desire in Fountas' eyes, as
well as by his unexplained and unlikely presence in the
neighborhood of the Widow's garden at dusk. This latter
appearance is out of character for a Cretan patriarch, who
surely would be too proud to stoop to spying on his own son's
love affairs, and it inexorably conveys the suspicion that
his real motives are more personal.
Takis Emmanuel, as Manolakas, the constable, falls
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short of Kazantzakis' description of a powerful bull of a
man; but his slim and wiry build conveys a sufficient
impression of toughness to make his performance credible.
Kazantzakis, in writing his novel, was concerned as
much with depicting Greek--particularly Cretan--life and
culture as he was with weaving a plot. To this end, he
introduced a number of minor characters who served to provide
local color and to express Greek and Cretan mores and atti
tudes. Cacoyannis, in order to preserve the economy and
unity of action that is so essential to the film medium,
sacrificed many of these characters that are essential to
the development of the plot as such. The dialogue attributed
in the novel to these characters has been eliminated insofar
as possible in the film, or reassigned to other characters
when necessary. Consistent with the emphasis of the film
on the character of Zorba, the speaking parts of eliminated
characters have been reassigned to him whenever appropriate.
This tendency becomes evident in the opening episode
of the film, the meeting of Zorba and Basil in Piraeus. This
meeting, in the novel, takes place in a waterfront cafe and
involves a number of minor characters--a sea captain, s
sailor, a longshoreman--who take refuge in the cafe from the
storm outside, and whose comments reflect the attitude of the
Greek seafarer toward the sea. In the film, this meeting
takes place in a debarkation waiting room, and these water-
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front characters are replaced by a number of passengers,
male and female, of amusing appearance but without speaking
parts. The scene in the cafe takes place, in the film,
after the meeting of the two protagonists and features them
almost exclusively; it is the occasion for the sealing of
their bargain to travel together to Crete. None of the
waterfront characters are present in this sequence, and
at least one of their comments, as given in the novel, is
attributed to Zorba himself. Kazantzakis has an old sailor
in the cafe, angrily contemplating the stormy sea, comment 52 "God damn you for a destroyer of homes'. " In the film, it
is Zorba who comments: "Listen to that bitch the seal That
maker of widowsl"^^
In line with this general policy of de-emphasis on
things Cretan, Cacoyannis has partially or entirely elimina
ted a number of Cretan villagers created by Kazantzakis prim
arily for the expression of specifically Cretan attitudes
and mores. Among those completely eliminated are Uncle Anag
nosti, the village ancient and sage, who in the novel is a
voluble character, much given to the expression of the
Cretan philosophy of life in general; his wife Maroulia, who
^^Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 8,
^^Zorba, dialogue, reel 1.
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symbolizes tiie silent, almost slavish, subservience of the
traditional Greek peasant woman to her husband; Androulio,
the tolerant but cossippy old verger; crazy Katerina, whose
challenge to the villagers at the scene of Pavlos' drowning
expresses the Cretan concept of justice; Sifakas, the shepher,
folk dancer and reincarnation of the pagan god Pan, whose
lack of compassion toward the Widow besieged expresses the
harsh Cretan conception of manhood; and others.
Perhaps the most important of Kazantzakis' Cretan
villagers sacrificed by Cacoyannis in filming Zorba, is
Kondomanolio, the cafe proprietor, who in the novel sereves,
on several important occasions, as the spolesman voicing
the general consensus of opinion of his fellow villagers on
current events. In the film, Kondomanolio has no speaking
part, and his essential comments are reassigned, where
possible, to Zorba, and where not possible, to other support
ing characters. In the novel, it is Kondomanolio who con
veys to Zorba and the Boss the reputation of Madame Hortense.^^
In the film, it is old Mavradoni.65 Similarly, it is
Kondomanolio, in the cafe scene that Introduces the Widow
in the novel, who describes her relationship to Pavlos.^6
54 Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 35.
^^Infra, pp. 112-113.
^^Supra, pp. 39-40.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Q7 I n the film, it is Zorba who states the situation:
Zorba (to Basil): His son is crazy in love with the widow, but she spits him in the eye. The more she spits the more he wants her. Look . . . .57
On two other occasions, Kondomanolio and Uncle
Anagnosti, in the novel, speak for all the villagers in such
a way as to explain their actions and to mitigate the effect
on the reader of the harsh Cretan code. It is Kondomanolio,
in the novel, who by his answer conveys the inevitability
of the.Widow's death and raises it to the level of the 58 execution of a judgment by her peers. The elimination,
without substitution, of this exchange in the film has the
effect of debasing the execution to the level of a brutal
murder. Similarly, it is Kondomanolio and Uncle Anagnosti,
in the novel, v;ho express the Cretan respect for the dignity
of death on the occasion of Madame Hortense's final agony.59
Their absence is one of the factors responsible for making
her death scene in the film more stark and macabre than it
appears in the novel.
Other characters of importance in Kazantzakis' Zorba
who are eliminated entirely from the film version are the
^'^Zorba, dialogue, reel 8 .
^^Supra, p. 46.
59Kazantzakis, Zorba, pp. 2 8 9 , 296-9 8 .
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schizophrenic monk, Zaharia/Joseph and most of his monastic
brethren, notably the homosexual abbot and his unwilling
partner, the novice Gavriils. These monks serve, in the
novel, as the vehicle for the expression of Kazantzakis'
anti-clericalism--an attitude that is consistently expressed
in many of his novels and that kept him at odds with the
Greek Orthodox hierarchy for much of his life. The elimina
tion of these characters and of the episodes in which they
figure, all of which are highly denunciatory of the Greek
Orthodox Church and religious, was obligatory under the
Production Code, which prohibits religious satire; but the
effect is to weaken considerably the forceful criticism of
clerical corruption conveyed in the novel. These episodes,
to which Kazantzakis devotes two and a half chapters in his
book, are reduced in the film to a single comic sequence of
28 scenes and three words. The sequence consists of an
encounter between a weary and dirty-faced Zorba, who has
ascended the mountain to the monastery alone, and an anonymous
group of monks who take him at first for the devil, but soon
change their minds when they discover that the water Jar
he is carrying is filled with wine. The episode is no more
a token representation of Kazantzakis' picture of a den of
clerical iniquity; it does convey a comic impression of greed
and gluttony, but it falls far short of the tragicomic
denunciation implicit in Kazantzakis' prose.
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4. Sequence In Novel and Film
A distinctive characteristic of Kazantzakis' novel
Zorba the Greek is its rambling, loosely connected develop- 60 ment of active plot. As has been stated, the hard core of
the novel is the statement and resolution of philosophical
and moral questions, within the Zorba-Boss relationship, and
the active episodes are presented primarily as focal points
around which these questions revolve. For Kazantzakis, the
real plot is the spiritual evolution of the Boss, and every
thing in the novel exists to serve this end. Events and
people are presented without regard for their relationship
to each other, and the criterion for the arrangement of
events is the relative importance of the event in reshaping
the concepts and attitudes of the Boss. The novel, therefore,
tends to create considerable lapses of time between
connected events within the same episode--lapses which are
utilized by Kazantzakis to define and resolve his philo
sophical questions, both by the introduction of reflective
and introspective material and by the presentation of events
from other active episodes that have a bearing on the question
involved. The central figure is always the Boss, and the
single thread that gives coherence to the novel is his state
of mind. Even Zorba's importance depends on his extraordinary
^^Supra, p. 22, Chapter I, B. Zorba the Greek, the Book
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ability to influence this state of mind.
Thus, for instance, Kazantzakis' reader is treated
immediately on the autumn day of the pair's arrival on Crete,
with the opening statement in the dialogue between the Boss
and Zorba on the subject of women and love. The statement
is from Zorba and takes the form of his opening flirtation
with Madame Hortense. This done, the subject is dropped so
as to give the Boss an opportunity to absorb the lesson
learned; and the novel proceeds, through the agency of the
mining operations, to state the problem of work and its
relationship to life. Only then does the novelist see fit
to present, through the Widow, another aspect of the problems
of women and love. After which he returns again to the
problem of work and life by presenting the episode of the
mine gallery collapse, an episode that also teaches a lesson
on love and death by enhancing the Boss's desire for the
Widow following his own narrow escape from the mine. By
the time the novelist sees fit to return to Madame Hortense,
it is Christmas, and several months have elapsed. They have
been eventful months, from the point of view of their effect
on the Boss; he has been presented with a surfeit of food for
thought and already he is no longer the same man that he was
at the time of his arrival. Prom the point of view of develop
ment of the Hortense-Zorba affair, however, the pace leaves
much to be desired.
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The same is true of the Boss-Widow affair. Each of
her appearances serves to dramatize a moral or philosophical
question that is bothering the Boss. But she does not even
enter the picture until a third of the way through the novel,
and thereafter there are long and eventful time lapses between
her reappearances. Her introduction, with the cafe scene
and the incident of the stray goat, occurs in late autumn.
By the time she is met again, Christmas has come and gone,
and it is New Year's Day. Thereafter she disappears from the
scene entirely and does not emerge again until Holy Week,
when she swiftly consummates her destiny of love and death
that has been shaped for her by events that have occurred
elsewhere in the meantime. In the novel, she is merely a
symbol who serves to focus, at intervals, the continuing
struggle of the flesh and the spirit that takes place within
the Boss; and again, when seen in terms of that struggle, her
infrequent appearances are sufficient to advance its pace.
Seen as an individual character, however, outside the con
text of that struggle, she hardly exists. Her moments on
stage are too few, too fleeting and too far-between.
In filming Zorba Cacoyannis has, in general, followed
the sequence of events as laid down by Kazantzakis in the
novel. In the film, however, the emphasis is shifted from
the Boss to Zorba, and the Boss is demoted from native
intellectual to foreign tourist. His state of mind, which
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is the connecting thread of the novel, is not developed at
all in the film. In order, therefore, to achieve that unity
of action flow which is imperative in the film medium, the
film-maker was obliged to tighten and emphasize the relatively
shapeless external plot of the novel. To this end, some
changes in sequence were necessary. The random sequential
sprinkling of unconnected events, the desultory introduction
of major characters in the fullness of slowly-moving time--
these are luxuries that the filmist cannot afford. Driven
by the inexorable rolling of the camera and bound by the
convention of the "two-hour traffic" that limits the length
of a film, he must introduce his major characters as soon as
possible in order to develop his story, and he must connect
related events sequentially in order to hold them within the
attention span of his audience. In addition, in the case of
Zorba, he must provide alternative, external meanings to
certain events that, in the novel, are interpreted in terms
of the internal psychology of the Boss. Both of these impera
tives are served by the sequence changes made by Cacoyannis
in filming Zorba. Some of the changes are responsive merely
to the limitations of his medium, and do not change the impact
of his story; others, whether intentionally or not, have
the effect of altering significantly the meaning conveyed
by the novel.
Cacoyannis, in filming Zorba, no sooner brings his
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major protagonists to Crete than he immediately introduces,
not only Madame Hortense, but also the Widow, in quick
succession. The opening flirtation of Hortense and Zorba
occurs in the film, as in the novel, on the evening of their
arrival on the island. In the film, however, this episode
is followed immediately by the cafe scene and the incident
of the stray goat that serves to introduce the Widow and the
significant minor characters. This change of sequence contri
butes nothing, in itself, to the alteration of Kazantzakis'
story; it is responsive merely to the realities of the film
medium. However, the cafe scene, in the film, is immediately
underlined by the Widow's gift of a basket of oranges to
Basil--a gift that, in the novel, is not made until well after
New Year's day. This change in sequence serves to establish
the existence of an attraction between the two--a purpose
that is served well enough in the novel by the Boss's
introspective gropings. But it also serves to reduce the
significance of the gift to that of an ordinary courtesy,
whereas in the novel, coming later as it does and unpreceded
by any immediate personal contact between the two, the gift
takes on the aura of an invitation. Thus is the original
meaning of the novel altered by a change of sequence.
Only after establishing the opening gambit of the
two love affairs does the film enter into the mining operation,
which thereafter continues uninterrupted and encompasses all
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the events connected with it as scheduled in the novel up
until Christmas. Having fixed the basis of the love affairs
in the viewer's mind, the filmist can now afford to divert
him with the contretemps of the mine and the. exuberant
reactions of Zorba. This sequential rearrangement, also,
is responsive merely to the demands of the film medium, and
has no significant effect upon the story itself. Most of the
changes of sequence made by Cacoyannis are of this nature,
and need not concern us here.
There is, however, one change in sequence which con
tributes heavily to a substantial alteration in the original
meaning of the novel. This is the timing of the drowning of
Pavlos. The drowning, in both novel and film, is the
proximate cause of the Widow's death. In the novel, however,
there is a time lapse of some weeks between the two events--
a lapse that permits the novelist to establish the impression
of a brooding and steadily growing awareness among the
villagers that justice still remains to be done. It is this
awareness, conveyed to the reader, that converts the Widow's
death from a murder to an execution. This interim, in the
novel, encompasses the entire episode of the monastery, with
the murder of the novice and the schizophrenic reactions of
Zaharias/Joseph. It is at the end of this interim, also that
the Boss-Widow affair reaches its consummation--a consummation
that, in the novel, culminates-the Boss' protracted
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spiritual struggle with the flesh and is unrelated to the
fate of Pavlos. In the film, however, the entire interim
is eliminated. The monastic episode is surpressed completely,
and the drowning of Pavlos is moved up to coincide with the
consummation of the Widow-Boss affair. The affair and
drowning are even made to depend on each other, so that two
psychological factors that in the novel are unrelated--the
Widow’s rejection of Pavlos and her eager acceptance of the
Boss--are tied together to make of the Widow-Boss affair a
triangle in which the Boss is downgraded from a soul in
crisis to an undeservedly successful rival for her affections.
Moreover, the juxtaposition of seduction, drowning and
murder has the effect of erasing the psychological build-up
of the Widow's death as an act of justice and thus helps to
reduce it to an act of savagery. In the film, as in the
novel, the Widow's violent end follows hard upon her seduction
of the Boss; but the psychological impact is very different,
and the difference is due in great part to the change in
sequence of Pavlos' death.
For convenience of reference, a comparative sequence
chart is included that may serve to clarify subsequent
discussion of the treatment of specific episodes in novel
and film. Major events are listed in the order in which
they occur in novel and film, and parentheses are used to
indicate incidents in the novel, which have been eliminated
from the film.
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FIGURE 1
Comparative Sequence Chart
Novel Film
1 . Piraeus. Cafe scene. Meet 1 . Piraeus, Waiting room ing of Zorba and Boss and scene and cafe scene. decision to travel to Meeting of Boss and Zorba gether . and decision to travel together. 2 . Voyage. Zorba seasick. 2 . Voyage. Zorba seasick. (Zorba's reminiscences and attitudes on several subjects ). 3. Arrival on Crete. Meeting Arrival on Crete. Meeting with Madame Hortense and with Madame Hortense and opening of Zorba-Hortense opening of Zorba-Hortense affair. affair. 4. Removal of Zorba and Boss 4. Cafe scene, with incident to hut and opening of of a stray goat, intro mining operations and work ducing Widow. on Buddha manuscript, respectively. (Feast at the home of 5. Widow's gift of oranges Uncle Anagnosti). to Basil via Mimithos. 6. Boss dismisses mining as 6. Mining operation begins. unimportant; Zorba dances Gallery collapses. for joy. 7. Conception of Zorba's scheme 7. Zorba ascends to monas to build cable. tery alone to survey timber; incident of monks and water jar.
8 , Cafe scene introducing 8. Basil gives Zorba free Widow. hand in mining operation; Zorba dances for joy. 9. Mine gallery collapses. 9> Conception of Zorba's scheme to build cable. 10. Christmas. Midnight Mass, 10. Widow returns Basil's (followed by dinner at umbrella with gift of Madame Hortense's )• rosewater and Christmas cookies. 11. Speechless encounter of 11. Dinner at Madame Hortense's. Boss and Widow. She drinks too much and passes out, to Zorba's disgust.
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12. New Year's Day (evening). 12. Christmas. Midnight Dinner at Mme. Hortense's. Mass. Basil declines She drinks too much and to visit Widow. passes out, to Zorba's disgust. Zorba leaves for Candia. 13. Zorba leaves for Candia, Zorba's letter from Candia 14. Basil's speechless en describing his dalliance counter with Widow. with Lola. Boss recalls him. 15. Basil's interview with 15. Zorba's dalliance with Mme. Hortense. He con Lola in Candia. Boss veys false proposal of recalls him. marriage from Zorba. 16. Drowning of Pavlos, (re l6. Basil misreads Zorba's mark about palikaria) letter from Candia to and procession with Mme. Hortense, conveys drowned body. (Boss tries false proposal of to defend Widow from marriage. implication of guilt ) . 17. Widow's gift of oranges 17. Scene with Pavlos at to Boss. Widow's house. She re jects him; he wrestles with his father in front of her house. 18. Zorba returns from Candia. l8 . Scene with Basil at Widow's He learns of his spurious house. He enters and they engagement to Mme. make love. His entrance Hortense. observed by Manolakas. 19. (Encounter with Zaharias/ 19. Cafe scene with Pavlos Joseph, the schizophrenic and Manolakas. Pavlos is monk, and Holy Week visit playing cards; Manolakas of Boss and Zorba to Monas informs him that Basil tery. Murder of novice is with the Widow. and Zorba's Instructions to Zaharias on the art of monastery burning ) . 20. Mock engagement of Mme. 20. Pavlos' drowned body re Hortense to Zorba. covered while Widow and Basil are still in bed. Procession with body passes her house; villagers' threatening conduct and Mimithos' defense.
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21. (Blessing of pylons ). 21 Zorba returns from Candia, learns of his spurious engagement of Mme. Hor tense and guesses at Basil conquest of Widow. 22 Good Saturday. Boss makes 22 Holy Week. Widow goes love to Widow. to church, is stalked there by villagers, am bushed and murdered. Zorba's fight with Manolakas. 23. Easter. (Zorba-Boss pic 23. Cable construction pro nic; Mme. Hortense is ill, ceeds . Mme. Hortense cannot attend.) visits hut, is drenched by rain, reproaches Zorba and they celebrate their mock engagement ceremony. 24. Easter, later in the day. 24. Easter. Mme. Hortense's Widow visits church alone death scene^. Villagers while paschal celebrations interrupt paschal cele are in progress, is mobbed brations to plunder her and killed. belongings. 25. Zorba's fight with Manolakas 25 . Blessing and collapse of who attacks him for completed cable. attempting to save Widow from death. 26. Madame Hortense's death 26. Dancing of Zorba and Basil scene. 27. (Reappearance and death of Zaharias/Joseph ). 28. Blessing and collapse of completed cable. 29. (Parting of Zorba and Boss ). 30. (Epilogue.).
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5. Treatment of Major Episodes In Novel and Film.
6l As has been stated at the beginning of this section,
Cacoyannis' treatment of the major episodes of Zorba is at
once remarkably faithful to the letter of Kazantzakis' prose
and essentially unfaithful to the spirit. Setting, action
and dialogue are to a great extent taken directly from
Kazantzakis' pages; and yet the film-maker, by suppressing
the Boss as an essential personality and effective partici
pant, has made of Zorba a qualitatively different story than
that told by Kazantzakis in his novel. The novel is the
story of two men, but from the psychological point of view,
it is the story of one man, and that man is the Boss. The
film is the story of one man, from every point of view, and
that man is Zorba.
It remains to demonstrate how this was done and to
evaluate the qualitative differences between the two stories,
through an analysis of the differing treatments, by novelist 62 and filmist, of the major episodes of the story. After
the elimination of the monastic episode, for reasons already
explained, the novel contains, essentially, four episodes--
two major and two minor--that are utilisable for the purposes
^^Supra, pp.73-78.
^^See for purposes of comparison the discussion of plot and characters in the novel. Chapter I, Supra, pp. 19-52.
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of film production. They are the two love affairs--Zorba-
Hortense and Boss-Widow--plus the mining operation and the
dalliance with Lola. Cacoyannis had utilized them all, and
has made the fullest possible use, for the purpose, of the
somewhat sketchy material provided by the novel. Of the
material directly pertaining to these episodes', Cacoyannis
has eliminated almost nothing; indeed, his infidelities to
the text consist primarily in padding the skimpy original
with incidents not found in the novel but necessary to give
substance and coherence to the film. Yet, by a change of
emphasis, a change of sequence, a passing over of an impor
tant psychological factor, he has produced a different tale
on film than Kazantzakis produced on paper.
a. The Zorba-Hortense Affair. The love affair be
tween Zorba and Hortense is one of the primary devices used
by Kazantzakis in his novel to develop the personality of
Zorba. Together with his affair with Lola, it conveys much
of his attitude toward women and love. Nor does it seriously
involve the Boss, upon whom its effect is merely instructive,
since his role in it is that of an observer. Bearing, as it
does, so heavily on the personality of the figure--Zorba--
that the filmist has chosen as central, the episode consti
tutes an important segment of the material available to him
for the production of the film; and uncomplicated as it is
by the intrusion of the Boss's personality, it lends itself
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well, as originally written, to the portrayal that
Cacoyannis wishes to make of Zorba. He has, therefore,
relied very heavily on the novel for the filming of this
episode, and his treatment of the affair bears a high de
gree of fidelity, both in letter and in spirit, to its
treatment in the novel.
In the novel, the substance of the affair is con=
tained in five major encounters and several minor ones
between Hortense and Zorba, plus one exchange between
Hortense and the Boss. Briefly, the important incidents
of the episode are the meeting of the two, on the day of
arrival in Crete, followed by an introductory dinner and the
initial seduction by Zorba; Christmas dinner, which consti
tutes a peaceful interlude; New Year's dinner, marking the
beginning of the deterioration of the affair, supported by
the minor incident of Madame Hortense's tearful importunate
farewell to a Zorba departing for Candia; Hortense's inter
view with the Boss in Zorba's absence and his fraudulent
conveying of Zorba's proposal of marriage; the mock engage
ment ceremony gallantly staged by Zorba in response to her
reproaches when his proposal fails to materialize; and her
death scene. On one occasion, her absence serves as a
harbinger of fate when she fails to appear at Zorba's Easter
picnic, having caught a cold that proves to be her fatal 63 illness.
63por a discussion of the Zorba-Hortense affair as it is portrayed in the novel, see Supra, pp. 28-35,
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Of these incidents, all but one are represented in
the film. The one omitted is the Christmas dinner, which
in the novel is a gentle charming occasion of warmth and
hospitality that serves to engender in the Boss dissatis
faction with his own lonely state of unattachment and drive
him further along the road to the Widow's house. This
effect, introspective as it is, does not lend itself to
portrayal on film, and since the incident contributes little
to the denouement of the Zorba-Hortense affair, Cacoyannis
has perhaps wisely, eliminated it. Instead, he has moved up
to Christmas Eve the dinner which in the novel occurs on
New Year's Day and marks the beginning of the end of the
affair as an affair.
The initial meeting of Zorba and Hortense, in the
film, differs in detail from the nove^ but the impression
conveyed is substantially the same. Her reputation,
previous to the meeting, is conveyed by old Mavradoni
rather than by the cafe proprietor, since the latter's speak
ing part has beeneliminated in the film. It is, however,
conveyed in the same terms :
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Novel Film
Cafe proprietor (stroking Mavradoni: "How many hairs his beard):"How many on my head? She's a widow whiskers can you count of the same number of here, friend? How many? husbands." 65 Well, she's the widow of as many husbands."64
The scene is enlivened with a comic, bumpy taxi ride
to Madame Hortense's hotel that is absent in the novel.
Another comic effect, clearly aimed at the American audience,
is achieved by changing Kazantzakis' incident of young Cretan
girls fleeing from the two strangers, to a shot of an old
woman crying out, as she flees, "Trehate! Amerikanil” (Run!
Americans!) In keeping with the filmist's emphasis on the
personality of Zorba, the exchange about beds and bugs, which
in the novel takes place between Hortense and the Boss, in
the film is assigned to Zorba in the first of many minor
changes intended to convert Zorba into the interpreter of
Greek and Cretan life to his foreign employer:
Novel Film
Boss: Two beds, Madame Zorba: Two beds, Madame. Hortense, and no bugs. Without bugs. Mme. H . : No bugs ! I Mme. H . : Monsieur! Madame should think not! 66 Hortense has not the bugs ! 67
^^Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 35» 6*5zorba, film dialogue, reel 3. ^kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 35* ^?Zorba, film dialogue, reel 3 .
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(Note the comic foreign cast of Madame's English,
consistent throughout the film, that serves at once to
heighten the comedy of her performance and underline her
identity as an aging French courtesan.)
The initial meeting is followed immediately, in the
film, by the introductory dinner offered by Hortense to Zorba
and Basil. This scene, as portrayed in the novel, is picked
up midway through in the film, and the opening tactic by
which Zorba converts Hortense from hostess to guest by setting
a place for her at table, is omitted. The camera picks up
the scene at the point where the participants have already
finished dinner and are slightly tipsy with wine, and from
that point on, is remarkably faithful to the novel in por
traying Madame Hortense's personality and Zorba's reaction
to it. The dialogue is taken straight from the pages of the
novel, with due allowance for Hortense's fractured English,
and conveys the substance of her tipsy and self-pitying
reminiscences of her heyday as a queen of the Great Powers
fleet during the Cretan revolt, her simultaneous affair with
all four Admirals, her flirtatious role in saving the island
from naval bombardment, and her subsequent abandonment by
her lovers with the withdrawal of the fleet. Zorba's reaction,
at once sympathetic and flirtatious, is also taken straight
from the novel, even to his complimentary comparison of
Hortense to Bouboulina, the Greek naval heroine, in response
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to her tale of her part in saving Crete from bombardment.
The Interruption of the scene by a group .of curious, spying
children, who in the novel dramatize by their disrespect,
the contrast between the old lady's former glory and her
present unimportance, is also included in the film. Even
the old lady's beloved parrot, Canavaro, misnamed for one
of her admiral lovers, is present in the film as in the novel;
indeed, his highly visual and audible charm serves to en- 68 hance his status in the film as a character in his own right.
The major differences in this scene as portrayed in
novel and film are the comparatively greater physical vitality
of Madame Hortense in the film than in the novel, and the
comparatively unsympathetic portrayal of Basil in the film.
In the novel, the old lady's tipsyness becomes almost a
drunken stupor which pointedly reveals her helpless old age;
she is not able even to rise to the intrusion of the children,
who are dispersed by Zorba with a stone. In the film, she
is active enough to perform a comic dance with Zorba, with
energy left over to welcome a dance with Basil, and it is
68 His real name was Canevaro. (Enciclopedia Italiana Pi Scienze, Letters e_. Arti. Edizion 19^9» VIII, p . ?25 ) • Admiral Felice Napoleone Canevaro was commander of a European Concert naval force which in 1896 blocked the island of Crete. He was Italy's Foreign Minister in I898-9 . /Christopher Seton-Watson, Italy from Liberalism to Fascism; I87O-I925 __ (Oxford, England: Methuen and Co. ttïïT, 1$6Y), pp. 204,212/.
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she who furiously attacks the intruding children with a
broom. Their final dispersal is nevertheless due to Zorba,
who drenches them with water; thus is his gallantry preserved.
As to Basil, his one contribution to the evening, which in
the novel consists of his unintentionally insulting compliment
in comparing Hortense to Sarah Bernhardt, is omitted. Instead,
he is made to decline, in a rather ungracious manner, to dance
with the old lady, in spite of Zorba's exhortations that it
is only polite. The omission of the comparison to Bernhardt
is understandable; it is a subtle type of humor that probably
could not compete on film with the exuberance of the old
couple. Basil's stiff and ungracious conduct regarding the
dance, however, though consistent with his identity as a
rather stuffy young Englishman, is perhaps an excessive
contribution to the downgrading of his role in the film as
compared to the novel.
The scene ends, in the film as in the novel, with a
none-too-gentle hint from Zorba to the Boss that his company
is superfluous to the intentions that Zorba has in mind. The
next scene involving the old lady is, in the film, the one
that- triggers the cooling of Zorba's affections. It takes
place on Christmas Eve rather than New Year's--an unimportant
difference--but otherwise it also is extraordinarily faithful
to the novel in content and detail. It consists of an
invitation to dinner from Madame Hortense to the two friends.
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It opens, in the film as in the novel, with Zorba*s 69 presentation to his hostess of a Christmas gift of his
own workmanship— a painting of the old siren as a mermaid
surrounded by her four Admirals, in which she recognizes
herself and is pleased. But the old lady's pervading de
pression at a holiday that marks the passage of time is
conveyed in the film as in the novel, when she gloomily
answers Basil's inquiry with "In my age. Monsieur, one is
never well. Especially on holidays." As in the novel, Zorba
attempts to cheer her up by weaving an entirely mendacious
tale of a newly discovered miracle drug for the restoration
of youth, of which he promises to obtain her a supply:
Novel Film
Zorba: Listen, let me Zorba: Oh! Don't be sad, tell you about the fine my little Bouboulina! I present I'm going to have heard of a new doctor give you. There' s a in Europe. He makes mira- new doctor--Voronoff-- d e s . You take what the who performs miracles, hell ever he gives you, they say. He gives drops or powder . . . and you a medicine of some you become twenty again. kind--drops or powder. Maybe twenty-five. I will I don't know which-- get you some, and you become twenty again in a trice— Hortense: Oh! You will? twenty-five at the worst. Don't cry, my Zorba: Sure.
69 The necessity to justify this gift may account for the change in timing of this scene from New Year's to Christmas. Gifts, in Greece, are exchange on New Year's, but for a Western audience, the appropriate date is Christmas.
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Novel Film
dear. I'll have some Hortense: A big bottle? sent from Europe for you. Zorba: A whole barrel.
Hortense: If it's drops, my sweetie, you'll order a demijohn for me, won't you? And if its powder . . .
Zorba: A sackful 1 70
But Zorba'3 efforts are no more successful in the
film than they are in the novel. As dinner proceeds, accom
panied at intervals by a gradually rising crescendo of
caterwauling by a pair of amorous cats, alcohol and sadness
combine to overcome the old lady. She descends from inco
herent reminiscences of long-gone-lovers--not admirals, this
time, but a succession of Turkish pashas--to a total stupor
that thwarts, de facto, the amorous intentions of the human
tomcat, Zorba. Finally driven to irritation by the cats that
grow steadily noisier as his intended approaches unconscious
ness, he rises to drive away the animals, and when he returns,
the old lady is asleep. Frustrated and disgusted, he ends
the scene by covering her and leaving her to her dreams,
summing up,to Basil, in the film as in the novel, with the
70 Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 14?. 71 Zorba, film dialogue, reel 8,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 119 72 comment "Dirty old cow.'" The entire scene, in dialogue and
in content, is taken bodily from the novel, with no important
changes.
This scene is punctuated, in the film as in the novel,
by the incident of Zorba's departure for Candia, which follows
the unfortunate dinner scene in close succession in both
media. In both cases, Zorba is absorbed in his plans for
the cable, whose construction is the motive for his trip,
and makes his departure completely unannounced to the old lady.
It is she, in both novel and film, who runs after him, calling
tearful good-byes and imploring him not to forget her. In
the novel, he is extremely short with her; in the film, he
does not even answer her, but leaves her to Basil, who
consoles her rather awkwardly with "Don't be sad. He's
coming back." To which she replies, with the apprehension 73 born of sad experience : "They all say that."
The next scene involving Madame Hortense is her inter
view with Basil during Zorba's absence, inspired by Zorba's
letter. In the novel, this scene serves two important
purposes. It is the occasion for the fabrication by the
Boss, in a moment of levity, of the false proposal of marriage
^^Kazantzakis, Zorba, p. 149, and Zorba, film dialogue, reel 8.
^korba, film dialogue, reel 9 .
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from Zorba to Hortense--a purpose that is also served in
the film version, which follows the novel very closely with
regard to this exchange. But, in the novel, this incident
coincides with the discovery of Pavlos' drowned body on the
beach in such a way that Madame Hortense is a witness to
the scene. Her reaction points up her abject fear of death,
and begins the psychological conditioning of the reader for
the horror of her own death scene. This aspect of the inci
dent is necessarily omitted from the film, since the timing
of Pavlos' death is so changed in the latter as to make its 74 inclusion impossible. The omission, however, is unfortunate,
since its eventual effect is to sharpen the unexpectedness of
her death scene in the movie. This unexpectedness is one of
several elements that combine to make her death scene more
morbid on film than on paper.
The next event in the development of the Hortense-
Zorba affair, in both novel and film, is the spurious engage
ment ceremony staged by Zorba in response to Hortense's
reproaches. The circumstances and timing of this encounter
74 See the discussion of this change. Supra, Part 4; Sequence in Novel and Film, pp. 104-105.
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have been changed slightly In the film so that It conveys.
In addition to the original message of the novel, a visual
explanation for the old lady's subsequent Illness; In the
novel, the encounter takes place on the steps of the two
friends' beach hut on the night of their return from the
monastery, while In the film. It takes place on the cable
site In a drenching rain which soaks the old lady to the skin.
This change does not affect the substance of the Incident,
though It does have a bearing on the effect of the old
courtesan's death scene. The fllmlst borrows heavily from
the dialogue of the novel In order to preserve the Initial
discomfiture and eventual comic gallantry of Zorba, and he
preserves the novel's poignant touch regarding the engage
ment rings, which Madame Hortense has had made from two gold
sovereigns, the gift of her English Admiral, hoarded so long
for her funeral.
The engagement scene Is followed Immediately, In the
film, by the old lady's death agony. In a scene as unexpected
as It Is macabre. Though the novel gives some warning of her
approaching death,as well as of her fear of It,^^* the film
gives neither. We are left with the Implication that her
'^^Supra, p.lll"
'^^Supra, p. 45.
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death was caused by her drenchlng--an implication that has
the advantage of being visible, and therefore capturable by
the camera--but that Is inadequate from the point of view of
cause and effect. The film then goes on to portray all the
morbid elements of the death scene while eliminating all the
mitigating elements. Even the lugubrious chanting of the
parrot, Canavaro, Is borrowed from the novel to punctuate
the dreariness of the scene. What Is more, the film en
hances, If anything, the savagery of the villagers who take
the opportunity to loot the old lady's belongings while she
Is dying. For Instance, In the novel the descent of the
villagers on the decrepit old hotel occurs gradually as they
learn of the Impending death by word of mouth. In the film.
It occurs as a spontaneous Interruption of their Easter
festival (a phenomenon that represents a transfer of back
ground vls-a-vls the novel, where this Interruption Is connected J 7 rather with the Widow's death scene) and far from being
gradual. It takes on the characteristics of a mob scene.
In the novel, the scene opens with the presence of two
professional mourners who at first go about their business
In a dignified way and descend to greed only In the face of
competition from other villagers; In the film, the professional
mourners are converted Into two Incredibly ancient harpies who
77 Supra, p. 119 •
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happen to be present at the festival and who become merely
two especially malevolent and covertous looters who intrude
themselves Into the old lady's presence even while she is
dying and who resemble nothing so much as two vultures
hovering. There is no suggestion of any mourning, nor even
of any decent respect for death on the part of any of the
villagers, throughout the entire scene. The consolation and
defense of the dying woman Is left entirely to Zorba, whose
behaviour parallels his behaviour In the novel, but Is far
less effective given the heightened Impact of the morbid
elements of the scene.
b. The Wldow-Basll Affair!^ The Wldow-Basll affair.
In the film version of Zorba, Is as untrue to the novel as
the Hortense-Zorba affair is faithful to It. In the latter
case, Cacoyannls has utilized to the full the material avail
able In the novel, and has brought to life on film essentially
the same old couple created by the novelist: Zorba the
unabashed pagan and Hortense the decaying courtesan. With
Basil and the Widow, the fllmlst's use of the original
material Is deceptive, and the changes he makes outweigh his
adherence to the original to create two essentially new
characters, unrecognizable from the novel, and to give a
different and less profound meaning to the episode on film.
78 For a discussion of the episode as It appears in the novel, see supra, pp. 35-52.
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In the novel, the Widow Is less a flesh-and-blood woman than
a symbol--a symbol of love and death. The two acts of love
and death are unrelated In the novel; the love affair. In
which the Widow Is Aphrodite, the untouchable Goddess of
Love, represents the eternal struggle between the flesh and
the spirit; death. In which the Widow Is the sacrificial
victim, symbolizes consummated justice on two levels: human
(expressed by her judgment and sentencing at the hands of
the Cretan villagers) and divine (expressed by the Boss'
reflections upon her death). In the film, the symbolism
Is totally lost. The love affair Is reduced to the level of
a mere counterpart to balance the affair of the older couple,
and a causal connection Is established between the affair
and the death, so that the affair Itself replaces the original
concept of justice as the motive for murder. And the
absence of any suggestion of justice, on film, converts
the murder from the level of an execution to that of an
Irrational and savage lynching.
This divergence, to some extent, was unavoidable, given
the limitations of the film medium. Abstract concepts do
not lend themselves to film. Moreover, the fllmlst was
obliged, for different reasons In each case, to alter funda
mentally the character of the two major protagonists of the
episode, so that neither Is capable of sustaining the action
as It occurs In the novel.
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Kazantzakis' Boss was an Intellectual with his head
in the clouds, but he was also a Cretan with his feet on his
native soil; he was completely capable of dealing with, and
learning from, his Cretan environment. Cacoyannls' Basil
has been converted, for reasons already explained, from
Cretan Intellectual to English tourist. He Is a callow youth
and a fish out of water, a foreigner, who depends on Zorba
as a go-between for the most ordinary transactions. He Is a
distant observer, rather than an effective participant, and
whatever lessons are Implicit In Cretan customs would clearly
be lost on him. In short, his role as changed by Cacoyannls
lacks the stature to support a spiritual struggle waged by
a soul in crisis within a specifically Greek context. There
fore, although the fllmlst has retained some of the external
manifestations of the struggle, as described by the novelist,
the conflict Itself Is almost totally annulled on film.
Similarly, Kazantzakis' Widow Is less a woman than
a symbol, existing primarily In the Imagination of the men who
know her. Imagination cannot be photographed; the fllmlst
was obliged to present her as a flesh-and-blood woman. Since
the novel provides hardly a suggestion of her human person
ality, the fllmlst was obliged to pad the literary material
Ih order to evolve a character sufficiently of this earth to
Interact with the other characters In the film.
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Essentially, the problem of the fllmlst In connection
with these two characters was to find new, and visual, motives
to actuate them, since In the novel the Boss' motives are
Introspective and the Widow's are non-existent; a symbol Is
not actuated, but merely acted upon. That Cacoyannls has
found substitute motives will be evident from the following
discussion; whether his substitutions are sensitive, or
even adequate. Is another question.
As to the question of justice as a motive for the
Widow's execution, the concept Is expressed. In the novel,
within such a narrowly Greek cultural context that even the
English translator uses a Greek word, palikaria, without
any explanation at all. In the exchange of dialogue that
establishes the motive. It Is doubtful whether the Import
of this passage Is caught by the average non-Greek reader,
and Its translation to film for a Western audience would pre
sent considerable difficulty to the fllmlst. He has chosen
to sidestep It entirely. His choice Is understandable In
view of the difficulties Involved, but Its result Is to
convert the Widow's death scene Into an event as senseless
as It Is horrible. This Is the single aspect of the film that
has made It an object of violent controversy among Greek
critics and film-goers, who see In It an uncalled-for Insult
to the level of civilization In their country. And with all
due respect for the efforts of the fllmlst to meet the demands
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of his medium, it must be admitted that the image of Greek
peasant society that results from this scene on film Is much
more negative than the same Image as conveyed In the novel.
The episode of the Widow, In Kazantzakis' novel. Is
conveyed through four Incidents In which she appears person
ally, two Incidents In which she figures Importantly from a
distance, a campaign conducted by Zorba to drive the Boss to
her bed, and scattered Introspective passages In which she
figures as an element In the Boss' conflict with himself.
Chronologically, the Important events In the denouement of
the episode are the Introductory cafe scene at which the
Widow appears fleetlngly. If effectively, and the psychological
context In which she lives and will die Is first delineated;
her brief and speechless encounter with the Boss on New Year's
Day; the Incident of the' recovery of Pavlos' drowned body,
with the key exchange of dialogue between Kondomanollo and
Crazy Katerina that conveys the popular judgment of guilt
against the Widow for the death; the minor incident of the
Widow's gift of oranges to the Boss through Mlmlko, ostensibly
for his attempt to defend her from the villagers' allegation
of guilt; the consummation of the Boss' affair with the
Widow, representing his surrender to the forces of the flesh
(this Is the only scene In which the Widow speaks In the
novel); and the Widow's death by violence at the church on
Easter Day. As a figment of the Boss' Imagination and an
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object of his purely human desires, she also figures In his
Introspective ruminations In response to a number of stimuli.
For example, the collapse of the mine gallery and his own
narrow escape from death make him desire her with unwonted
Intensity, and Madame Hortense's Christmas party, with Its
homelike warmth to which he Is a stranger, creates in him a
solitary depression that lasts the whole of Christmas week
and heightens his emotional reaction when he meets the Widow
on New Year's Day. None of the Impact of these Introspective
passages, however. Is preserved In the film.
The cafe scene Introducing the Widow provides the
first example of Improvisation by the fllmlst to flesh out
the skeleton of the episode as sketched In the novel. In
the novel, as in the film, the scene opens with the two friends,
Zorba and Basil, ducking Into the cafe to avoid a downpour.
In the novel, however, the reader Is Introduced to a very
convivial scene Involving a number of villagers who make sub
stantial contributions In their own right. The conviviality
Is Interrupted by the appearance of the Widow, who.appears
In the street outside, drenched to the skin. In pursuit of
her stray goat. She neither speaks nor stops, but merely casts
a brief and dazzling glance at the assembled men and runs
past, and Is not seen again. This, In the novel. Is sufficient,
with Kazantzakis' description of the reactions of Individuals,
to establish her Identity as the local fatale , There
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are hostile reactions from old Mavradoni and his nephew, the
constable Manolakas, and friendly reactions from others,
including Mlmlthos, who appears In the Widow's wake. Uncle
Anagnostl, and the old verger, Androullo. Pavlos, the pip
squeak, Is also Identified In this scene; he appears and
Immediately allows himself to be dragged away by his father
and cousin, thus demonstrating his lack of personality In
his own right. The explanation of this Incident, Pavlos'
hopeless Infatuation with the Widow and his father's dis
approval, Is conveyed as gossip by the cafe proprleter. In
short, the friends and enemies of the Widow are all present
at the scene, and they express their reactions as Individuals.
It Is otherwise In the film. In the first place, the
fleeting appearance of the Widow as described In the novel Is
too substantial to support. In visual terms, the extremities
of reaction that It causes. In the novel, this difficulty
Is overcome by the comment of the various customers of the
cafe who supply the details of her standing In the village.
In the film, most of the customers who provide this background
have been eliminated In order to reduce the roster of speak
ing parts. Therefore, the fllmlst Is obliged to expand the
substance of the Widow's appearance and convey a visual Image
of the emotional reactions, hostile and friendly, that the
Widow summons forth. Cacoyannls accomplishes this through
the agency of the stray goat. In the novel, the goat Is no
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more than an excuse for the Widow's presence, and never
appears in person. In the film, the goat is enticed into the
cafe and hidden by the entire assemblage of customers, in
order to force the Widow to enter and expose herself to their
teasing. Their mockery Is Intended to convey the hostility
of the villagers toward the woman of dubious reputation; but
In the absence of a previous explanation for It, its Impact
Is one of callous and casual cruelty rather than one of
motivated fear or hatred. Within this context, the Widow's
Important friends and enemies are visually Identified.
Mavradoni burns with the same disapproval that he exudes In
the novel, but with less effect, since his youthfulness In
the film converts the burning Impression Into one of jealous’y
rather than rage. Pavlos makes a pathetic and futile attempt
to rescue the goat, demonstrating at once his unrequited love
and his mawkish, adolescent Incompetence. Manolakas, on
the other hand. Is a major participant In the abduction of
the goat, and projects an Image of himself as a shallow and
malicious bully, rather than a slow-witted but strong and
loyal family man, as he Is described In the novel. In keeping
with the policy of the fllmlst, the scene enhances the
personality of Zorba, who In the novel plays no particular
role In the scene beyond his own earthlly male reaction to
the widow; In the film, he also conveys this reaction. In
terms that follow the novel, but In addition he Is the gallant
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hero who rescues the Widow from her predicament. He it is
who finally corrals the goat, and, holding It In his arms,
stares down Manolakas In a confrontation that abruptly halts
the general hilarity, after which he releases the goat In the
street. Whereupon Basil, not to be outdone, belatedly offers
the Widow his umbrella, which at first she refuses, but
then accepts.
As has been stated, the Widow's gift of a basket
of oranges to Basil has been taken out of sequence (In the
novel, the gift was made after the drowlng of Pavlos) and
filmed Immediately after the stray goat Incident In order to 7Q punctuate the attraction between the two.'^Thereafter, the
film, with uneven success, copies the novel In delineating
Zorba's passionate matchmaking campaign, the Widow's willing
ness and Basil's resistance. Zorba's contributions are taken
straight from the novel; even his comments on theology and
sex are present. He quotes the Turkish hodja's definition
of sin:
God has a very big heart. But there Is one sin he will not forglve--lf a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go. I know, because a very wise old Turk told me . 80
79 Supra, p. 103 .
Zorba, film dialogue, reel 7.
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And after his own unique interpretation of Christian theology
to dissuade Basil from attending Christmas Mass:
If God went your way, there would be no Christmas. He did not go to church, he went to Mary and Christ was born. He went that way /Indicating the Widow's house/. Mary Is the Widow. Bl
The film succeeds admirably In conveying Zorba's attitude
toward the match. It Is less successful In conveying the
Widow's attraction and her willingness, and It so completely
falls to explain Basil's resistance that the viewer Is led
to entertain some doubt about his manhood. Having already
utilized the Incident of the gift of oranges, which In the
novel constitutes an Invitation from the Widow to the Boss,
Cacoyannls used a similar Incident to accomplish the same
effect; he has the Widow return Basil's umbrella via Mlmlthos,
accompanied by a gift of rosewater and Christmas cookies,
symbolizing sexuality and domesticity. Basil's only reaction
Is to hide them so as to avoid further pressure from Zorba.
This Is followed by the speechless encounter between Basil
and the Widow, which Is copied from the novel but with a less
electric effect, due primarily to Basil's pokerfaced British
phlegm. The whole quality of Alan Bate's performance vls-a-vls
the Widow Is so stiff as to destroy any Impression that he
might be engaged In a spiritual struggle. He seems equally
^^Ibld., reel 8 .
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Incapable of spirituality and of sexual desire, so that
when he finally does seduce the Widow, with no visible effort,
it comes as a surprise that he would bother, and as an even
greater surprise that she can still be Interested.
The final Incidents In the Wldow-Basll episode, the
seduction and her death, taken together, constitute the major
distortion of the story as told by Kazantzakis. The novel
tells of a spiritual conflict revolved by seduction and
separately, of the Widow's execution as a menace to society
who has already caused one death among the villagers. The
film tells of a woman who, for no discernible reason. Is
the object of the hatred and contempt of the village, who In
addition Is pestered to death by the unwanted attentions of
a mawkish adolescent and who, when she understandably rejects
him and turns to a man who at least has the merit of being a
stranger to the environment that Is so hostile to her. Is
savagely lynched by a mob of locals whose motives are as
obscure as their act Is violent. This Interpretation casts
the Cretan villagers In a very unfavorable llght--an effect
that certainly was not Intended by the novellst--and con
versely, It presents the Widow In a human and sympathetic
light that she does not enjoy In the novel.
The distortion was accomplished. In the first place,
by expanding the role of Pavlos and moving up his suicide to
coincide with the seduction scene. In the novel, he never
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actually approaches the Widow, and his drowning is an act
of simple despair. It preceeds the seduction by several
weeks, and it is the occasion for the expression of a motive
for the Widow's slaying. In the film, he Is made to approach
the Widow with a love letter, which she refuses to take, and
Immediately afterwards to engage in a hysterical wrestling
match with his father (who has caught him In the act of
throwing his letter over the Widow's garden wall). No sooner
does he disappear from the screen than Basil appears. Is
welcomed by the Widow, and Initiates his love-making by attempt
ing to comfort her, since by now she Is understandably
frightened and upset. But Basil has been seen entering her
house by Manolakas. The next scene to appear on the screen
Is the village cafe. Pavlos Is sitting at a table playing
cards, and Manolakas enters and tells him. In whispers,
what is obviously the bad news about the presence of Basil
at the Widow's. (This exchange, by the way, portrays
Manolakas as a sneak, a spy and a malicious gossip, a very
different person from the honorable man depicted In the novel.)
The camera then returns to the Widow's bedroom, leaving
Pavlos violently upset, and picks up the love scene. While
the couple are still In bed, the drowned body of Pavlos Is
found on the beach and his funeral procession Is formed and
passes the Widow's house In a mood of sullen hostility
that Is expressed by several of the men throwing stones at
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the house. (She is defended by Mlmlthos In a scene Intended
to be comic but that succeeds only In being tasteless; he
jumps up on the garden wall and threatens the hostile villagers
with a stone, but falls off, and when asked by an old woman
whether he, too. Is the Widow's lover. Idiotically laughs.)
Having thus made clear the Inclination of the villagers
to mob the Widow, the fllmlst proceeds very quickly to her
murder. The circumstances under which It arises, however,
are changed. In the novel, the mob scene Is presented as a
spontaneous outburst; In the film. It Is presented as a well-
organized conspiracy. The Widow goes openly to church
during a regular service (in the novel she goes secretly and
Is discovered). Is stalked there by several villagers, who
signal her progress down the line, and once outside the church.
Is encircled by a growing mob and assaulted by Manolakas In
a way Intended to convey a sexual Insult. Only then does
he draw his knife. This Is a far cry from the novel, where
Manolakas' behaviour as he prepares to murder the Widow takes
on the quality of a seml-rellglous rite. As In the novel.
Zorba Intervenes, overpowers Manolakas, and attempts to lead
the Widow to safety out of the churchyard, but Is foiled by
Mavradoni, who grabs her by the hair and cuts her throat.
(This latter detail, at least. Is less horrible In the film
than In the novel, where he cuts off her head and throws It
on the doorstep of the church.)
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The savagery of this scene Is augmented considerably
by the absence of a comprehensible motive for such a unani
mous and violent reaction. As has been stated, the motive
of justice given by the novel has been eliminated In the
film, and the motive supplied In Its place Is far too puny
to justify the enormity of the crime. The film Implies that
an entire village has been so maddened as to commit a brutal
lynching on the very altar of God because a woman of their
people has chosen a stranger as a lover In preference over a
local boy who was not even man enough to live with his
disappointment. Such a motive could barely support an ex
change of backstairs gossip, and It certainly does not
support a murder of this magnitude. The viewer Is therefore
forced to conclude that the Cretan peasant Is a murderous
savage who lynches for the pure joy of lynching. This Is
the Impression understood and resented by large numbers of
Greeks, both critics and ordinary fllmgoers, who took It as 82 an Insult to their country.
c . The Mining Operatlon^^ The operation of the
lignite mine. In the novel. Is In Itself of secondary Impor
tance to all the characters concerned, but It Is also very
Rp See Infra, pp. 155-160.
^^For a discussion of the mining operation as It Is described in the novel, see Supra, pp. 25-27.
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much Zorba's own. The Boss, after an Initial and Ineffec
tive attempt to show an Interest, which succeeds only In
annoying Zorba, drops all real concern and dismisses It as a
mere excuse for a prolonged visit to Crete. Thereafter he
leaves It entirely to Zorba and contents himself with ob
serving Zorba's use of the mine as a focus for his Inter
pretations of life and as an outlet for his emotional
reactions to other events.
Since the mining episode. In the novel. Is a device
for the development of Zorba's personality. It suits the pur
pose of the film-maker--whose central character Is Zorba--
to translate It faithfully and completely to film. This
Cacoyannls has very effectively accomplished, omitting little
or nothing of the material available In the novel. All the
essential Incidents are present: the collapse of the mine
gallery, the conception of Zorba's plan for a cable to bring
timber down from the mountain, his trip to Candla for materi
als and his side-tracking by Lola, the construction of the
cable, and Its final collapse, ushering In the end of the
film. Background, dialogue and meaning are taken straight
from the novel. In spite of this, however, the mining
operation, within the entire context of the film, takes on
a relatively greater weight In the film than In the novel.
This Is the result of the changes and omissions made by the
film-maker In connection with other episodes, which have
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the effect of emphasizing the mining operation even though
In Itself It remains faithful to the novel. That this effect
was Intentional, however. Is Implicit In the fact that the
film-maker does not permit Basil to dismiss the mining so
unequivocally as the Boss does In the novel. Compare the
dialogues In the two media on the subject:
Novel Film
Zorba: Now I can tell Zorba Boss. Do you trust you. I've been work me? ing out a big plan In Basil; Yes, I do. my mind these last Zorba; Why the hell do you? few days, a crazy Basil: Because you're you. Idea. Is It on? Zorba: But you don't under Boss: Need you ask me? stand. My brain Is not That's what we came the right weight. It . . . here for: to carry It gives me such crazy Ideas Into effect. Ideas. I might ruin you. Zorba: Speak plainly. Basil : I'll take that chance. Boss. Didn't we come Zorba: Say that again, boss. here for the coal? Give me courage. Boss: The coal was a Basil: I'll take that chance. 85 pretext, just to stop the locals being too Inquisitive, so that they took us for sober contractors and didn't greet us by slinging tomatoes at u s . Do oh you understand, Zorba?
Not surprisingly, therefore, the film viewer Is Inclined to
take seriously, as the reader Is not, the significance of the
mine as the real motive for the pair's sojourn on Crete.
84 Kazantzakis, Zorba,pp. 81-82.
85Zorba, film dialogue, reel 6 .
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Perhaps the true explanation for the greater Impor
tance of the mining episode In the film than In the novel
lies In the nature of the material concerning It provided
by the novelist. Unlike much of Kazantzakis' prose, this
material Is vividly descriptive, and lends Itself even
better to a visual medium than It does to literature. For
example, the dialogue just cited Is the Inspiration, In
both media, for Zorba's ecstatic solo dance (in which the
Boss declines to participate). The dance Is essentially
visual (and audible), and this scene Is therefore even more
exuberant on film than on paper. The same Is true of Its
counterpart at the end of the film, after the collapse of
Zorba's cable, when both men dance together In an excess
of shared, unreasoning pagan joy. The effect of this final
scene Is heightened by the dramatic crescendo of a Greek
musical score that Is In Itself a hymn to joy, and by a
camera that spirals upwards to show the pair growing smaller
and smaller In the distance below. Similarly, the film
version of the gallery cave-ln, showing a black-faced and
wild-eyed Zorba, straining at the collapsing roof while all
the others run, emphasizes Zorba's courage more vividly than
does the novel; and Quinn's expressive rendition of this
tonguelashlng of the miners for abandoning their picks
effectively conveys his contempt for death and his even
greater contempt for cowardice.
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The eventual collapse of Zorba's timber-bearing cable
Is one of the most effective In the film. It Is supported
by one of the most Imaginative backdrops Invented by the
fllmlst--the flimsy cable stretching from the mountain to
the shoreline, expressing visually the punlness of man's
attempts to harness nature. The scene Itself Is one of the
most comically expressive In the film. It comes as a relief
after the death scenes of both Madame Hortense and the Widow.
The suspenseful swaying of the cable, the fright of Zorba's
adopted parrot Canavaro, the apprehensions of the Orthodox
monks (who. In their religious garb, are highly visual and
genuinely funny), the facial expressions of Zorba--all
contribute to the hilarity of the scene. And It Is on this
note that the fllmlst ushers In his ending with the picnic
on the beach and the farewell dance of the two men.
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CHAPTER III
CRITICAL TREATMENT AND CONTROVERSY
IN GREECE AND THE UNITED STATES
A. General Bases of Criticism
Critical treatment of Zorba the Greek, as a film, was
divided between praise and blame, whether the critics were
American or Greek. There were Important differences In the
reactions on the two sides of the Atlantic. American critics,
whether pro or con, were comparatively restrained and dis
passionate In their criticisms and generated little critical
heat. In Greece the film Inspired a prolonged national
controversy that was highly emotional, often violent In tone.
Involving not only critics but the general public and even
reaching the floor of the National Parliament.^
Zorba In novel and on film Is a foreigner to Ameri
cans. Whatever may be their view of him, he does not
reflect on them as a nation. It Is otherwise with the
Greeks. On their side the fire of controversy was fed by
the fuel of national pride and entangled with national self-
interest. The film was released at the height of an Intensive
^See the Question In Parliament quoted In the Introduction of this paper. Supra, p. 1.
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promotion campaign being conducted abroad by the Greek
tourist Industry, a factor In the national economy.
The aspects of the film upon which the majority of
critics focused their attention on both sides of the Atlantic
were three; the fidelity of the film translation to the
spirit of the novel; the effect of the two most dramatic
episodes (the deaths of the Widow and of Madame Hortense);
and the Interpretation by the actors of the personalities
created In the novel. These three aspects will serve as
points of departure for a comparison of Greek and American
reactions to the film.
B. Fidelity of Film to Novel
The difference between Greek and American reaction
to the film as a translation of the novel Is a function of
differences In cultural background and expectations. After
nearly a half century of Hollywood adaptations of American
best-sellers, the American public and critics are Inured to
the Inevitable change and distortion Inherent In the process
of translation between media, and do not expect a strictly
faithful translation. To them, moreover, the novel Is Just
one of many outstanding works of world literature, and their
familiarity with It Is not, for the most part. Intimate.
With the Greeks, the author of Zorba Is the literary
giant of their nation. Kazantzakis Is probably the best-known
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Greek storyteller since Homer and the only Greek writer of
modern times to achieve a breakthrough to the International
literary scene. In contemporary world literature Kazantzakis
alone speaks for Greece. He has revealed to foreign eyes
many of the Internal tensions and conflicts of Greek society.
He Is praised by some and damned by others. The emotional
pitch of the controversy he generates at home rises In
direct proportion to his prominence abroad. Not only Greek
film critics but also the movle-golng public are familiar
with Zorba, and they know the cultural context In which he
writes. Inevitably any Greek audience must view the film
version of Zorba In the light of the novel. Zorba was the
first modern Greek novel. Internationally acclaimed, to be
transposed on film and Greeké are not accustomed as much as
their counterparts In America to the distortion of familiar
material that accompanies translation from one medium to
another. It appears that the Greek critics as well as the
public entertained an unreallstlcally high expectation of
fidelity of film to novel.
Greek critics tended to judge the film version of
Zorba by Its success In translating the philosophical theme
of the novel. Americans, whether familiar with the novel
or not, tended to judge It by Its protagonist. By both
standards the critics found the film disappointing. Cacoyannls,
In filming Zorba, deliberately chose to sacrifice the main
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theme of the novel--the polarity between Zorba and the Boss-- 2 In favor of an emphasized role for Zorba. Far from succeed
ing In the translation of Kazantzakis' philosophy, the film
did not even attempt It. To the Greek critics, this
amounted to cultural treason. A few critics, viewing the
film for Its own sake, praised It for verve and vitality but
many found the story unbalanced and lacking In credibility.
The one American critic who seriously attempted to
view the film In the light of the book was Stanley Kauffmann
of the New Republic and he found the film disappointing pre
cisely because of Its failure to measure up to the novel:
Cacoyannls' screenplay, necessarily condensing the novel, has also distorted It. The book Is about the relation of two protagonists, the Intellectual-mystical narrator and the hedonist Zorba. In the film Zorba takes the center, and the narrator becomes his "feed," thus hampering what Alan Bates might have contributed to the part. The change robs the film of sustaining Inner tension and makes It a series of episodes not equally successful and without cumulation.3
Elsewhere Kauffmann, In writing of the film as a specifically
Greek production, comments:
The challenge, the subject, the Joining of Greek themes and hands, all are admirable. The result Is unusual but
Supra, p. 77. (See Chapter II, Part B, The Film, Section 1 "Translation of book to film; potentialities and limitations.")
^Stanley Kauffmann, "Films; Vitality, Simplicity, History" New Republic,(Jan. l6, I965), p. 26,
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unsatisfactory. . . . The character of Basil is so eviscerated that Bates, though a responsive actor, can do little with it. Kazantzakis' original narrator Is a man of depth; in the film Basil is simply a foil for his more colorful companion. With the young man weakened and the theme clouded, the film degenerate^ into a series of more or less picturesque episodes. This opinion is echoed by other American critics whose
reviews show less familiarity with the novel than Kauffmann.
Philip T. Hartung, who evidently has not read the novel,
comments that:
One of the faults of Zorba the Greek is that Quinn is the whole show, and the film is one long character sketch of Zorba--too long, for the story Itself is slighted. Perhaps the Nikos Kazantzakis novel reads better than its plays, or perhaps producer-script-writer Michael Cacoyannls was too faithful to the original.
Another critic dismisses the film as "an impossible and
opaque story of a young man from England and the Cretan
narrator who teaches him to dance.And Brendan Gill, while
praising Cacoyannls' "verve" as a director, adds that he
"has also provided the not very tidy, not very plausible
screenplay .... Vfhen I ought to have been breathless with
horror, I heard myself pronouncing the fatal word "preposter- 7 ous." Bosley Crowther sums it up with:
^Stanley Kauffmann, "Movie Review: Greek Meets Greek to Film Zesty Zorba", Life (Jan. 15, I965), p. 8.
^ Philip T. Hartung, "The Screen: Lust for Life," Commonwealth (Jan. 15, 1965), p. 6 0 . A "Movies: Beefy Philosopher," Newsweek (Jan. 4, 1965), p. 60.
Brendan Gill, "The Current Cinema" New Yorker (Dec. 19, 1964), p. 151.
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The weakness of the film lies in the lack of a signi ficant conflict to move its dominant characters. Zorba « is powerful and provocative, but nobody gets in his way.
Other American critics were kinder to Cacoyannis'
screen adaptation of Zorba, but they are in the minority.
Chief among them is the critic of Time magazine's cinema
section, who comments that:
This translation of the book into an English-language film might easily have changed the author's hearty wine of life into cinematic sugar water. Instead, Director Michael Cacoyannis has served it up in a generally up roarious Bacchanalian Bash.
Kazantzakis is the Dostoevsky of the Mediterranean, and Zorba the Greek is his most popular work. Cacoyannis treats it with respect but not with awe. The big moments of the book are all in the film, but the fictional furlbelows are trimmed and some dazzling cinematic doodads added. The camera sees much that Kazantzakis didn't, and the movie is often funnier than the book. 9
And the Washington Evening Star critic, in praising the film,
in effect dismisses the book as irrelevant. He characterizes
Cacoyannis' production as :
A brilliant screen translation of Nikos Kazantzakis' widely popular novel. At least he has made a brilliant movie, whether or not it says what Kazantzakis had to say. 10
8 Bosley Crowther, "Screen; Zorba the Greek is at Statton, " New York Times . (Dec. l8 , 1964), p. 25.
^"Cinema: Bacchanalian Bash," Time. (Dec. 25, 1964), p. 6 5 .
^°Harry MacArthur, "The Passing Show: Beware of Missing This Greek," The Evening Star (11 Feb. 1965), C-6 .
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In Greece, where Kazantzakis' writing is widely known
and higly controversial in itself, critical opinion was all
but unanimous to the effect that the film failed utterly to
convey the philosophical and poetical nuances of the novel.
Reactions generally ran the entire gamut from disappointment
to outrage with a small but emotional group convinced that
the film was a defamation of Greece. This latter group was
inclined to blame the novelist instead of the film-maker for
having "gained his fajne by describing Greece as a jungle.
For the most part the critics divided into two opposing camps,
the one condemning Cacoyannis for his failure to transmit
Kazantzakis' message and the other defending him on the
grounds of the difficulty of translating Kazantzakis' prose
to a visual medium.
What is striking about the Greek critical reaction is 12 not so much its content as its emotional pitch. Adverse
critisism was, for the most part, passionate, sometimes
irrational, in its hostility, while the defense was charac
terized by a lukewarm almost apologetic tone. Even the
^^P.Palaiologos, Zto ncpuOwpLo Tnq Cwnc : *lî tauvCa. Æ n the sideline of life: The f i l ^ Vema (Tribune) (March 27, 1965), p. 1. 12 The uproar caused by Cacoyannis' interpretation of Zorba led one aspiring Greek writer of the younger generation to cast grave doubt on the maturity of the Greeks in their judgment of fundamental problems of art. "The national conscience rebels," he pointed out, "only when the art expression takes the form of mass communication." Vasilis Vasilikos, "Aptnc HaC OcaiiatÆread and Sighÿ^ Tachydromos (Postman) (March 27, 1965), p. 21.
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defenders of the film generally found it inferior to the
novel.
Typical of the hostile reactions was that of the
critic of an Athens daily newspaper who expressed outrage
at Cacoyannis' having "plundered one of the best fictional 13 works of Greek literature." P. Palaiologos found the
film to be an extension of the anti-Cretan sentiments of 14 Nikos Kazantzakis. Another, exemplifying the irrational
extremes of emotion generated among the film opponents, went
so far as to brand the novelist, the filmist, and the musical
director of the film as a trio of "Communist plotters whose
intention is none other than to defame the island and the
13 Rozlta Solcou, 't xputixn Vol) XLvppaTnvpo-pou. ^ i l m critlc/Kathimerinl (Daily) (March 17, 1965), p. 4.
P. Palaiologos, To Znp.cLuiucCapiq p.ou ; Hh rCcu. /Fiy Notebook: March 24/Tachydromos (March 27, 1965), p. 7 . Another distinguished Greek film critic, who in general defended Kazantzakis and was strongly critical of Cacoyannis' interpretation of Zorba, found it ironic that Kazantzakis, who had gone into self-exile because he loved Greece, was once again widely accused by his countryment, in the heat of the controversy over the film, of slandering the very Crete that he had loved so dearly in his lifetime. Marios Ploritis, : o/p f : ri ' '1: ' . '' ; : ' ' :'A / lot) "Z:op,rKâ." Æ i l m Critic: Inversion of Zorba/' Eleftheria (Freedom) (March 17, 1965), p. 2.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 149 15 people of Crete." Perhaps the most charitable of the
comments to come from the opposition was that of the critic
who laconically observed that the "Cacoyannis film was not
his best, as Zorba was not Kazantzakis' best novel.
Touching on the issue of over-emphasis on the character
of Zorba, Cacoyannis was excoriated by two of the most dis
tinguished critics of film. Marios Ploritis, a well-known
stage director, author and film critic for a leading Athens
daily, was strongly critical of Cacoyannis for having
deliberately violated the integrity of the novel by con
centrating one-sidedly on certain of its episodes intended by
the author to develop the character of Zorba.And Lile
Zographou, whose critical analysis of Kazantzakis' life and
works is authoritative, was equally critical of the filmist
for "having destroyed /Tn the character of ZorbaZ a unique 1 Q and admirable symbol." After characterizing Kazantzakis'
Zorba as " the most authentic figure produced in Greek letters
in this century," Miss Zographou goes on to say that only in
"Zorba the Greek," Kinimatographikos Astir (Cinema tographic Star) (March 25, 19&5), PP- 12-13.
^^L.B.K. Cl taivLEc; trie; èpôonâôoc : 'kptXéc xaC abjirJanCcc, tou Zop- u^a^ilm Of the Week; Virtues and weaknesses of ‘ZorbaJ_/ Vema (^arch 16, 1965), p. 2 .
^Tpioritis, o£. cit.
^^Lile Zographou, ALdXoyoc.•notée Zoppnae* /Which Zorba?7 Tachydromos (March 27, 1965), P* 21.
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Theodorakls' musical score, in the closing of the film,
is the real Zorba to be found. Only then, she adds, does
Zorba,. in a complete stage of freedom, express his love for
life; in the rest of the film, the Kazantzakian character 19 is nowhere established.
Even among the Greek critics favoring Cacoyannis '
film, there is a detectable disappointment in the inadequacy
of the film as an expression of Kazantzakis' theme. By and
large, they tend to rationalize this disappointment by point
ing to the essential differences between the literary and
film media and the special difficulties posed by Kazantzakis'
style of writing. The general consensus among them is that
Cacoyannis has done as good a job as could be expected given
the unsuitability of Kazantzakis' material to the film medium;
but withal, one cannot help but sense a certain regret that
the film does not achieve a higher standard of fidelity to
the much-beloved novel. Only one among them has divorced
himself from contemplation of the novel in order to Judge
the film as an entity in itself--the chronicler of a right-
wing Athens evening newspaper, who comments that Cacoyannis
has produced a "cruel movie, with little basis on the original
story," but who nevertheless feels that the film, as a film, ?o is excellent. More typical are the sentiments of another
l^ibid.
2°Alekos Lidorikes, xat "Ncov.'/Zorba and JNeon^Z Messimvrini (Midday) (April 5, 1965), P-
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critic, who concurs in this judgment of tiie film independent
ly of the novel and free of the prejudice arising from Greek
national pride, but who adds, nonetheless;
In comparison with the novel, the film cannot command the same sympathy or the same degree of praise. It seems to me that the inner symmetry, present in Kazantzakis' writing, is out of proportion in Cacoyannis' film. And again, from another critic who is friendly to Cacoyannis
but who evidently had his reservations about the quality of
the novel, we have the observation that the filmist made full
use of the material found in the book, but that:
Movies are not like books; the film does not have the literary qualities of the written word.
A film sees things in a direct way; it does not mask falsehoods with philosophical or semantical interpreta tions. It is for that reason that in a film v/e discover everything frivolous, groundless and unartistic that we find in the original /Zorba/'.
As may be inferred from the above critical reactions, the
controversy generated in Greece over the film was, to some
extent, a revival of the controversy that raged over the head
of the novelist during his lifetime--a controversy that
^^G. Maniatakos, ’ Ai' Xo tuc n ' c c. vp, ^ r p Cac. /[Change of Symmetry Tachydromos (April 3, 1965), P. 21. 22 A. Moschovakis, rl vfrc %'l-Ccc : ' AXcr-% /'orp-Gy. / T h e New films: Zorba the Greek/ Auge (Dawn) (March 21, 1965), p. 2 . —
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became so acrimonious as to drive him into self-exile.
Behind both praise and blame for Cacoyannis' interpretation
of Zorba lies an undercurrent of praise and blame for
Kazantzakis' novel. The filmist and novelist appear to share
the responsibility for both versions of Z o r b a ~ It is,
therefore, significant to note that Kazantzakis' widow in the
course of a very personal and passionately bitter reaction
to the Greek controversy over the film, had this to say in
defense of the filmist;
There is no truth in the claim that Cacoyannis did not respect Kazantzakis' writing. You have to read and re-read the book, and then you will find that everything Zorba says on the screen appears in the book. There are, certainly, many details missing from the film, but this is the difference between the cinema and the written word. Cacoyannis, actually, follows the book as closely as possible. 23
The above, in view of the overall pain and bitterness
of the review in which it appears, a remarkably charitable
and objective criticism of the film— one of the kindest, as
well as one of the most authoritative, to come from any Greek 24 source. Nonetheless, it stands as a lonely minority
opinion. The general consensus of opinion on both sides of
the Atlantic, in spite of differences in emotional commitment
and cultural background, is that Zorba the Greek as a film
is at best an inadequate expression of Zorba as a novel.
23 Helen Kazantzakis, piatC oXn aOtp pixpo({;uyj /Why this pusillanimity?/ Eleftheria (March 21, 19o5p. 9. 24 Infra, p. l60.
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C. The Issue of Barbarism; The Death Scenes
of Madame Hortense and the Widow
Even if, given differences of cultural background and
experience, Greek and American critics reached remarkably
similar conclusions as to the fidelity of the film to the
spirit of the novel, their reactions on the issue of cruelty
in the presentation of the deaths of the two major female
characters were strikingly at variance. In Greece, this
issue was of overriding importance and clouded all efforts
at objective judgment of the film. Both the critics and the
public in Greece took these two episodes as the crux of a
deliberate and malicious defamation of their country and
their people. Their reactions reflected more of outraged
and wounded national pride than of critical objectivity.
Americans, for their part, registered little or no shock at
the rawness of these two episodes. The majority of American
critics, even those writing for religious publications,
entirely ignored the issue of cruelty. Those few who did
mention it were about equally divided between praise for a film
that eschewed the traditional and saccharine happy ending,
and criticism of two over-dramatic episodes that they con
sidered unacceptable, not because they were cruel, but
because they were incredible.
Stanley Kauffmann, the American critic who in general
reveals the greatest familiarity and understanding of the
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Kazantzakis novel, expresses in two different reviews, both
the favorable and the unfavorable American reactions to the
issue of cruelty. Writing in The New York Times, he complained
that:
Cacoyannis does not establish the ambience of his villagers. It comes as a somewhat incredible shock when these hitherto friendly Cretans brutally murder a widow who sleeps with Bates (because a youth whom she has spurned has committed suicide). Was she obliged to accept the youth or no one? Unexplained too, is how Bates' and Quinn's characters then reconcile them selves to accept this murder and live among the men who did it. 25
But, in another review, Kauffmann makes it clear that his
complaint is based on credibility and not on the intrinsic
unacceptability of a filmic portrayal of life's cruelty. On
the contrary, he affirms, and even welcomes, the concept of
realism over that of the happy ending;
This is no smiling-through chronicle, but a story thick with cruelty, greed, death--and Zorba views them all without shock or dismay, because he expects them. Indeed, they are all part of the existence that he affirms. 26
For the rest, the American critics are largely silent
on the issue of cruelty in the two death scenes. Even the
two critics writing for religious publications approve, by
implication or by omission, the stark reality of these two
^^Kauffmann, "Films; Vitality, Simplicity, History," loc. cit.
^^Kauffmann, "Greek Meets Greek," loc. cit.
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episodes. The critic of the Jesuit weekly, America, addresses
herself only to the issue of whether the film is or is not
an attack on religion, and she concludes:
It is nothing of the sort, however, but rather an attack on intolerable social conditions under which all values (including religious ones) become twisted and distorted. 27
And Malcolm Boyd, the controversial Episcopal priest,
writing for an Episcopalian magazine, far from being shocked
at the brutal death scene of the Widow, complains that the
dramatic effect is "marred by choreography; desperately the „28 Widow runs back and forth . .
Perhaps the most acid of American comments on the two
death scenes takes the following innocuous form:
Some of the episodes are funny, but more are shocking-- particularly those displaying the meanness of the Cretans.
As beautifully as the picture was photographed in Crete, one is not likely to be won to the island. Are the movie-makers sabotaging Crete now as they already have Sicily? 29
In contrast to the generally calm American acceptance
of violence as part of the Cretan way of life, the Greek reac
tion was heated to say the least. Many Greeks, especially
Cretans, took these scenes as an unwarranted and unnecessary
^^Moira Walsh, "Films: Zorba the Greek," America (Jan. 30, 1965), p. 176.
^^Malcolm Boyd, "Movies; Dance of Life," Christian Century (Feb. 17, 19Ô5),PP. 216-I8 .
^%artung, loc. cit.
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calumny on the national character. The issue created an
uproar in the country at the time of release of Zorba; but
it is interesting to note that, though the general public
manifested considerable outrage at Cacoyannis' interpretation,
many (though not all) of the critics defended his work.
Among the critics hostile to these two scenes were
Lile Zographou, who disapproved of the film's sacrifice (as
she saw it) of the personality of Zorba in favor of concen
tration on some cruel episodes;and Nikos Angellis, a
Cretan, who questioned the necessity for the production of
the film but who conceded that "slaughter . . . is not a 31 stranger to Crete." In discussing the matter, Angellis
considered the two episodes separately and reserved the brunt
of his objections for the pillaging of Madame Hortense's
property, which act, he maintains, "is alien to the Cretan 32 way of life." A less dispassionate Cretan author, Andreas
Nenedakis, accused Cacoyannis of having "sadistically
humiliated the men and women of Crete, suppressing in the
30 Zographou, o£. cit.
31. Nikos Angellis, rtaxC yvçCoxmc t ' R iÎTio(iin. /why this film? The opposite sid^7 Eleftheria (March 21, 1965), p. 9 . 32 Ibid.
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process a l l expression o f good w i l l towards them found in
Kazantzakis' novel." He adds that "whether intentionally or
not, Cacoyannis certainly succeeded in portraying Crete as
an island inhabited by people devoid of any human dignity.
And an Athenian critic interviewed by the daily Eleftheria
maintained that only an enemy of Greece could have produced 34 such a film .
Even more vehement objections than these were voiced
by the ordinary moviegoers of Greece, and especially of Crete.
A number of civic organizations and city councils in Crete
passed formal resolutions protesting the release of the film .
For example, the City Council of Candia (the scene of Zorba's
affair with Lola) addressed a resolution to the Greek Govern
ment condemning the film as a "monstrosity," and accusing
Cacoyannis of eliminating many episodes from the novel where
Kazantzakis described the "psychic greatness of the Cretans"
in order to "isolate a pair of episodes which constitute a 3 C clear slander against Crete and her people.In the same
^^Andreas Nenedakis, AiapaptupLcc; yupw h.%6 tfiv -catvCa "Zoppnât" /protests over the film 'Zorba the Greek'/Auge.(March 19, 1965), p. 2 . 34 "Ct 'AOnvaioL xaC 6 Zoppitâç : PvOpcc; Oca'wv xat avayvwotwv. /People of Athens express their views on the book and the film ~of Zorba/E leftheria,(March 21, 1965), p. 9.
35'np6c; -c5v X. npwOuxoupydv oC Kpntcs Aid tov "Zopnxd." /?o the Prime Minister on "Zorba" by the Cretans/ Ethnos (Nation) (March 25, 1 ^ ^ p. 2 . A report from Candia by "Ehe correspondent of the Athenian evening paper.
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tone was a protest from the Pan Cretan Society which expressed
astonishment that a Greek producer should isolate two scenes
marked by a cruelty that he knew to be historically and 36 culturally unrealistic. As late as two years after the
release of the film, Greek newspapers were still receiving,
and printing, letters to the editor complaining of its
defamatory character. Consider the following from a Cretan
living abroad to a popular Athenian weekly. The author states
that the film's release in the city of his residence caused
him "anger and shame, as a Greek first and as a Cretan second,"
because of the defamatory nature of several scenes in the 37 film.
The film did find its defenders, even in Greece. One
Athens daily, for example, credited Cacoyannis with "sharp,
lovely and explicit direction"as saving the film, and des
cribes the Frenchwoman's deathbed as "no more repulsive than
the novelist himself intended it to be," and concluded that
Cacoyannis "without burdening the film, succeeded in con- 38 veying the author's philosophy."
36 Auge, o p . c i t .
^^Supra, see Introduction. AidXoyoc; |ié toOc àvayvOo-cec; toü "TaxuApopou"; 'Avoiytn tniaxoXfi. /Conversation with the readers; An open le tte r/ Tachydromos. (December 24, I966), p. 98. gQ Moschovakis, Auge, op. c it.
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Nonetheless, even the few Greek critics friendly to
the film were compelled to reflect, by their protests, the
generally violent disapproval of the film by the Greek
audiences. For example, one critic, who urged his readers
"you must see the film," felt bound to characterize as
"nonsense" the accusation that the movie was an attack on
Crete and the Cretans produced by a "Greek-hater" and "Turk-
lover." He added that:
If any blame attaches to the two death scenes, it must be laid to the novelist; but both scenes are legitimate fictional episodes, belonging properly to literature and therefore to the screen. They are not to be taken as actual events. 39
In the same vein, StathisDromazos writes that any
attempt to show that Kazantzakis disliked Cretans and there
fore portrayed them negatively in Zorba is a vain effort.
"Kazantzakis wrote of no one but the characters created by
his own imagination," he states. "Cretans, as they actually
are, do not excite the author's fantasy. Kazantzakis over
emphasized cruelty; wherever he found it, he carried it to 40 the level of inhumanity."
Cacoyannis himself, in answer to the objections to
the "cruelty" of the two death scenes, has this to say (in a
39 G. K. P e lih o s , KlvniJatoyoacpLxfi xpii^xn tCLÜ /opp% 5,^ /Film review of Zorba/ Nea (News) (March 16, 1965) , P. 2 .
^^Stathis J. Dromazos, n d x6 ptpxCo xaC tdv -caivCa. /Tbout the book and the film/ Auge (April 4, 196$ ) , P- 5 .
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foreign newspaper, be it noted):
Audiences are shocked by the looting of the dying woman's hotel in Zorba, but they forget that these people never stole from her while she was alive. To Greeks, such behavior is less barbaric than two people sitting in a living room and tearing each other to bits as in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? 4l
Manifestly, not all of his compatriots agree with his
ideas of barbarism. But the Greek people themselves come
under a rather bitter attack, on the issue of their own level
of civilized conduct, in this impassioned defense of the
producer by the novelist's widow, Eleni Kazantzakis:
There are some Greeks who are astonished and indig nant now because in the scenario of a movie placed in an isolated Cretan village of sixty years ago, some simple people were 'impolite' to a dead woman. These same Greeks seem to have forgotten very quickly what they themselves did to the dead Kazantzakis seven years ago, when they denied permission to place my dead husband's coffin in the village church of Elefsis on the night I brought him home from abroad and en route to his burial in Crete. Or is it not true that for many years after his burial, his tombstone was found littered every morning with dirt? 42
D. The Actors and Their Performances
Concerning the performances of the various actors in
Zorba, the critics on both sides of the Atlantic were in all
Walter Ross, "Greek Bearing Film Gifts," The New York Times (January 24, I965 ), II, p. 9. 42 Helen Kazantzakis, ojo. c i t .
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but unanimous agreement. Quinn's performance as Zorba was
acclaimed on all sides. Critical comment was so consistent
that a thorough analysis of it would be repetitious. Typical,
however, is Stanley Kauffmann's comment that it "is the best
performance of his career"--a compliment that stands in the
more favorable light since Kauffmann credits this performance 43 as being "all that holds the film together." Brendan Gill
observes, in the same vein, that "Zorba the Greek gives
Anthony Quinn a chance to play the sort of role he apparently
• „44 likes best and is certainly best at. Greek critics, con
curring in this Judgment, found Quinn's performance 'brilliant'
and 'excellent.' The only dissenting voice was that of
Lile Zographou, whose sentiment that a Greek actor should
have been selected for the part, was shared by no one.
Equally acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic was
Lila Kedrova's performance as the old French chanteuse, a
performance that considerably enhanced the stature of the
part in the film as compared to the old lady's role in the
novel. It was generally agreed that Kedrova all but stole
the show from Quinn, and her performance won for her the
year's Oscar for "best supporting actress."
43 Kauffmann, "Films," New Republic, op. cit.
^^Gill, 0£. c i t .
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Alan Bates, as the Boss, was generally conceded to be
a disappointment. Pew agreed with the critic of the
Washington Post that his performance gave "strength to
reticence," although American critics were generally inclined
to excuse his dim performance as attributable to the insig- 45 nificance of his role. The Greeks, for their part, were
more critical; their familiarity with the novel led them
to compare him, unfavorably, with the young Kazantzakis who
is the narrator in the book.
Irene Pappas' performance as the Widow caused little
comment, as is consistent with the relatively minor importance
of the role as a vehicle for" dramatic expression. Most
reviewers who commented at all on her performance were
favorably impressed. Kauffmann, for example, calls her
"as always, fiercely effective. Among the few dissenters
was Brendan Gill, who observes that Pappas "has a small It 47 part that she does little to enlarge.
In sum, Stanley Kauffmann may have spoken for all
the critics, both on the performance of the actors and on
45 Richard L. Coe, "One from the aisle: Tony Quinn as Life Force," The Washington Post (Feb. 11, 1965.),C-10. 46 Kauffmann, o£. cit. Writing for Life magazine, S. K. says that Irene Pappas "with her Praxitelean profile and deep fire makes her brief role memorable." 47 Gill, 0£. c i t .
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the film Itself, when he said:
These ladies /Kedrova and Pappas/ and Quinn make the film exceptionally good enough to be worth seeing and to be disappointed in. 48
48 Kauffmann, 0£. c it,
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CONCLUSIONS
Zorba the Greek was honored by nominations in several
categories for the 37th annual Oscar award presentation of
the American Academy of Motion Pictures. The only foreign
film in the running for Best Picture of the Year, it was in
competition with two high-budget Hollywood productions (Mary
Poppins and ^ Fair Lady) and two more modest American films
(Becket and Dr. Strangelove.) For his role in Zorba, Anthony
Quinn was nominated for best performance by an actor, and
for her interpretation of Madame Hortense, Lila Kedrova was
nominated for best supporting actress. Cacoyannis received
nominations for best achievement in directing and beat
screenplay based on material from another medium--the first
Greek of his profession to be so honored.
It is a commonplace that the Oscar awards do not
constitute the most objective of judgments as to the artistic
value of a film. The high cost of production of a film,
representing as it does an investment from which the industry
must realize a profit, has been known to constitute as weighty
a factor as artistic merit in the final judging for the Oscar.
Nor is popularity with the public a sound basis for artistic
judgment, since the public quite frequently flocks to what
the critics call a "poor" movie and ignores what the critics
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 165
agree Is a "good" one. Nevertheless, the fate of the film
in the final decisions of the Oscar competition reflects
quite accurately the general consensus of opinion among the
critics: that Zorba was a good movie, but fell short of being
a great one.^ Though the film competed in both major and
minor categories, it won awards only in the minor ones.
Walter Lassaly won the Oscar for his black-and-white photo
graphy and Vasilis Fotopoulos for his black-and-white art
direction. The most important Oscar won by the film went to
Miss Kedrova for her performance as Madame Hortense.
There is ultimately no such thing as a perfectly objec
tive criterion by which to measure the artistic excellence
of a motion picture. The film is a more complicated art
form than traditional literature, painting or sculpture.
Works of art in the latter fields are the productions of a
single talent--a Kazantzakis, a Rembrandt, a Praxiteles--
whereas a film is the product of a team combining many and
differing talents. Though the film must be viewed as an
entity, its success depends to a great extent on the harmonious
1 Previous to the Oscar presentations, Zorba was elim inated in the first round of voting in the 30th annual ballot ing of the New York Film Critics. "New York Film Critics Awards," New York Times (29 December 1964), p. 20:1.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 166
blending of artistic contributions. In a film taken from a
novel, there exists a tendency, especially among those
familiar with the original, to Judge the success of the film
by the degree of its fidelity to the author's prose. This
tendency, though natural, is essentially vain, and unjust.
It must be remembered that the two media are basically
different and even incompatible. "Each achieves its best 2 results by exploring unique and specific properties." Ideally,
a film should be Judged on its own merits as entertainment
and as a vehicle for the achievement of the artistic excellence
inherently possible within the limitations of the median».
Like other films before it, Zorba the Greek, in its
critical treatment, suffered to some extent by an unfavorable
and ultimately vain comparison with the novel. More important
is the fact that it was also criticized, without reference
to the novel, for a basic flaw of imbalance. The character
of Zorba is too strong; the characters surrounding him are
too weak, and the film provides him with no challenge against
which his mettle is believably tested. In addition, there is
a disproportionate relationship between cause and effect in
connection with the two tragic death scenes; they are over
dramatized and under-explained.
2 Bluestone, op. cit. p. 218.
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That this imbalance arises from a distortion of the
novel is beside the point; that it constitutes an undesirable-
and avoidable--iraperfection within the context of the film
medium itself, converts it into a valid point of adverse
criticism. Indeed, this defect is so fundamental and
all-pervading that Zorba, in spite of excellence in acting,
direction, and other artistic contributions to its pro
duction, must be admitted to be less than the great movie
it might otherwise have been.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 169 BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Anapliotls, Yannls. ^0 aXTi6tv6c Zopuxac xaC & Nïxog KaAavtCâxnc /The real Zorba and Nikos Kazantzald.s7- Athens: Diphros," T960.
Arnheim, Rudolph. Film as Art. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Uni versity of California Press, 1957-
Berelson, Bernard. Content Analysis in Communications Research. Glencoe, 111. : The Free Press Publishers, 1952.
Bluestone, George. Novels into Film. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, I96I.
Brettakos, Nikephoros. Nixoç KaGavtCaxnc, ^ gyuvig tou xaC to cpyo tou /ÏÏikos Kazantzakis, his agony and his worl^. Athens: ""P. Sipsas and Christos Tslamantas" Publications, 196O.
Forster, E.M. Aspects of the Novel. New York: privately printed, 1927. Houston, Penelope. The Contemporary Cinema. London and New York: Penguin Books, l'963~ (A Pelican Original, Pelican Book A636. )
Iliadis, Fr. 'SXXnvuxé; KtvrmatoYpagioc; : 1906-I96O ■ /The Greek movie industry: 1906-I960/. Athens : "Fantasia" Publica tions, n.d.
Katsimpales, Georglos K. Bi(3XloYPagia H . Kggqvt^âxn /Bibliogra phy of N. Kazantzaki^. Athens: privately printed, 1958.
Kazantzakis, Nikos. Report to Greco, trans. P.A. Bien. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
Zorba the Greek, trans. Carl Wlldnan. 11th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, September 1967.
BCo c xaC noXttcCa tou *AXe/n Zopuxg /Life and Ad ventures of Alexis Zorba/. Athens: D. Dimltrakou Publica tions, 1954.
Kennedy, Margaret. The Mechanized Muse. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1942.
Lawson, John Howard. Film: The Creative Process. New York: Hill and Wang, 1963.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 170
Lawson, John Howard. Theory and Technique of Playwrltlng and Screenwrltlng. New York: G.P. PutmanTS" Sons, 1949*
Lever, Katherine. The Novel and the Reader. London: Methuen & Go. Ltd., 19ÏÏT7
Lindgren, Ernest. The Art of the Film. New York: The Macmil lan Company, 1953•
Livingston, Don. Film and the Director. New York: The Mac millan Company, 1953•
Manolikakis, Yannls. Navcdn*Optd\ic;: 'Aqnynon &tx6 tiîv AicQvn Katoxn Kpntnc 1897-98 /Madame Hortense: A narration of the International occupation of Crete, 1897-98/. Athens: Typographelon D. Papadopoulos, 1965.
Prevelakls, Pantells. Nikos Kazantzakis and His Odyssey: A Study of the Poet and the Poem, trans. Phillip Sherrarïï. New York: Simon and Schuster, 196I.
Seton-Watson, Christopher. Italy from Liberalism to Fascism: 1870-1925. Oxford, England: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1967*
Spottlswood, Raymond. A Grammar of the Film: An Analysis of Film Technique. Berkeley and"Los Angeles : University of California Press, 1959•
Yalourakls, Manolls. KaGavtCaxnc, Mia Ncpg otnv ’Av c Cux /Kazant zakis. One Day In Antibes/. Alexandria, Egypt : Typograph elon Bnporlou", 1964.
Zographou, Lile. Nixoc; KaGavtCaxnc, "Evac Tpayixéc; /Nikos Kazantzakis, the tragic one/. Athens ; "Kerdos, I960.
PERIODICALS
Alpèrt, Hollis. "SR Goes to the Movies: On the Side of Life.," Saturday Review, January I6 , 1965, pp. 35-36.
Anapllotls, Yannls. " '0 'AXnSivoq Zoppuâc " /The real Z o r b ^ , Tachydromos, April 10, 1965, PP" 36-37; April 17, 19%, pp. 36-37.
Bastlas, Costasv. "An Article on M. Cacoyannis," Alpha, No. 40 (May 12, 1966), p. 57.
Boyd, Malcolm. "Movies: Dance of Life," Christian Century, February 17, 1965, pp. 2l6-2l8.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 171
" ALaXoyoc yié x6s) ZopfiTtci " ^lalogue about Zorba/, Tachy- dromosj March 27, 1965, p. 21; April 3, 1965, P* ^1^
" AiaXoyoc; |i£ toOc; avoYN»Sotcc tou Taxuôpdpou ; 'Avotxtfi 'SnuotoXn " /conversation with the readers : Open letter/, Tachydro- mos, December 24, 1966, p. 98-
"Cinema: Bacchanalian Bash," Time, December 25, 1964, p. 65*
Constantelos. Demetrios J. (Rev.) "Was Nikos Kazantzakis a Heretic? Hellenic Review and International Report, Vol. 8, No. 7 (May, 1967), p. 45.
Friar, Kimon. "A Minor Masterpiece," New Republic, Vol. 128 (April 27, 1953), p. 20.
______. "The Odyssey of Nikos Kazantzakis," Saturday Re view, November 30, 19570 p. 40.
Germiadianos, N. " '0 KaCavtCaxns xaC fi Kpntn "/Kazantzakis and Cret^, Anamnistiko lefkoma Nlkou Kazantzaki apo to proto philologiko mnemosyno tou, edited by ManosHarTs /Nikos Kazantzakis Commemorative Album/. Athens: "Di- phros," i960, pp. 40-45.
Gill, Brendan. "The Current Cinema," The New Yorker, December 19, 1964, p. 151.
Goudelis, Yannis. "'A%6 'Enoxn Z''3%oxn " /From one season to the o t h e ^ , Kainoureia Epohi, Fall 1958.
Hartung, Philip T. "The Screen: Lust for Life," Commonwealth, January 15, 1965, P- 60.
Hatzines, Yannis. "îî.KaÇavtÇdxrit; : ECoc xaC ricXi,tcCa tou ’AX. ZopHTta" Æ . Kazantzakis: Life and. Adventures of Alexis Zorba/, Nea Estia, XXII (August 15, 1948), 1052-1054.
" *H Kpitixn iiac, :'*Zorba the Greek'," Kinimatographikos Astir, March 25, 1965, pp. 12-13.
Kakrides, I. Th. " ïïTxoç KaÇavtçdxnc " Æ i k o s Kazantzakis/, Kainoureia Epohi, Fall 1959, pp. 17-27.
Kalomenopoulos, George. " *0 KaÇavti^dxnc xaC n Kpntn tou " /Kazantzakis and His Cret^, Periodiki Ekdosis tou Syllo- gou Kreton e 'Knossos', /Periodical edition of the Khos- sos Cretan Society/, Commemorative Issue, 5th Year, No. 22 (May, 1958), pp. 65-6 7 .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 172
Kauffman^ Stanley. "Films: Vitality, Simplicity, History," New Republic, January l6, I965, p. 26.
______. "Movie Review: Greek Meets Greek to Film Zesty Zorba," Life, January 15, 1965, p. 8.
Kazantzakis, Nikos. " Ta4idcpovtac : naiôixd Xpovua otfiv Kpfitri " /Travelling: Childhood in Crete/, Nea Estia, XXXI (June 1, 1942, pp. 344-348.
Komis, A."KpLtixn,BLpXio:BCo( xaC IlrXfCeCa tou 'AXdSn ZopuTia'jN. KaCavtgdxn" /Book Review: N. Kazantzakis' Life and Adventures of Alexis Zorba/, Elefthera Grammata, No. 61, March 1, 1947.
Maniatakos, G. " 'AXXoCwon trie ouppctpCae " /Change of Symmetr//, Tachydromos, April 3, 1965, p. 21.
Manolikakis, Yannis." Mavtdp 'Optdvc : *k y^nooa tSv 'Evupcvwv ZtdXwu " /Madame Hortense : Enchantress of the United Fleej^, Tachy- dromos, March 6 , 1965, pp. 12-13; March 20, 1965, pp. 36-37; April 3, 1965, pp. 36-37, 41.
"Movies: Beefy Philosopher," Newsweek, January 4, 1965» P. 60.
"Oscar Winner Lila Kedrova," Status, Vol. I, No. 1 (October 1965), pp. 56-57.
" '0 ZopnTtde tou N.KaÇavtÇdxn itou 63% tôv ôlvel n taivCc. ôlcTl AET: nto ôuvatdv' /n. Kazantzakis' Zorba as it appears in the book but not in the filn/, Ilisos, May-June, 1965, pp. 137-149.
Palaiologos, Pavlos. " To on^cLwpatdpio pou : 24 Mapttou " ^ y notebook: March 2^, Tachydromos, March 27, 1965, p. 7.
Skalioras, Costas. " '0 pCo< xaC n noXitcCa tou ’aXeÇ?, Zopiuia oto UupCoi ” /The life and adventures of Alexis Zorba in Pari^, Tachy dromos, March 13, 1965, pp. 20-21.
Smith, Harrison. "Attic Mustard," Saturday Review, May 30, 1953, p. 16.
Spandonides, Petros. " :Tlxo^ Ka4aut;Jxr,c, : 'r riot; t~c ’Avne uxtac " /Nikos Kazantzakis: Son'of Anxiety/, Kainoureia Epohi, Fall i960, pp. 107-145.
Spanias, Nikos. "The Real and the Fictional Zorba," Hellenic Review and International Report, Vol. VII, No. 2 (December, 1965,) pp. 20-21.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 7 3
" Euv£xEta toü AtaXoyou " /Dialogue continued/, Tachydromos, April 10, 1965, p. 37.
" T£Xoc; toîi AtaXdyou " /Ênd of the dialogue/, Tachydromos, April 17, 1965, p. 37 .
" t6 q)aLv6(i£vov Kaxoyidvvn " /The prodigy Gacoyannis/, Kini matographikos Astir, July 22, I965, pp. 1-2.
Walsh, Moira. "Films: Zorba the Greek," America, January 30, 1965, p. 176.
Wolf, William. "New Films: Thank You, Mr. Gacoyannis," Cue, December 19, 1964, p. 23.
Zographou, Lile." not6c; Zoppxdq >"/Which Zorba/7, Tachydromos, March 27, I965, p. 21.
"Zorba the Greek," Pictures from Greece, No. Ill (April 1965), pp. 46-47.
ESSAYS AND ARTICLES IN COLLECTIONS
Avgeris, Markos. "StoaYwyn ot6 cpyo tou KaCavtCdxn" /Intro duction to Kazantzakis' work^. Collection, Second Volume. Athens: "Nea Techni" Publications, 1964, pp. 145-157.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES
Aw. " KaGavtcdxns, N, " Encyclopedia Eleftheroudakls, VII, 30. Athens: Eleftheroudakis Printing Company, 1929.
"Gacoyannis, Michael," Current Biography, XXVII, 5-8. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, May I966.
"Gacoyannis, Michael," International Who's Who (28th ed.), 1964-1965, 161. Chicago : Who's Who Inc.
"Gacoyannis, Michael," \^o's Who in America, XXIV, I966-I967, 317. Chicago: Who's Who Inc.
"Canevaro," Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti (Edizione 1949),, 725.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 174 UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS
Asheim, Lester Eugene. "Prom Book to Film." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1949.
ClaplSj Joseph.J^. "Film and Book: An Analytic Comparison." Unpublished Master's thesis. Columbia University, New-York, New York, 1948.
Kalfoglou, Marios S. "A Noble Passion: A Portrait for Radio of Nikos Kazantzakis." Washington, D.C.: Voice of America, Worldwide English Division, General Features Branch, 1965- (Mimeographed. )
Poyser, Lily. "Biography of Michael Gacoyannis." London: 20th Century-Fox Productions, Ltd. (Mimeographed.)
NEWSPAPERS
Angellis, Nikos. " FuatC yupCotnxc f *H dvtCoctn " /Why this film? The opposite side/, Eleftheria, March 21, 1965, p. 9 .
Bacoyannopoulos, loannis." '0 MtxdXiiç TCaj^oytayvTi^ TcaC ot toy .ôte- Oviopoü "/Michael Gacoyannis and the dangers of int'einiatioii- alism/, Eleftheria, August 10, 17, 24 and September 7, 1966, p. 2.
Bart, Peter. "Contenders Line Up for Tomorrow's Academy Awards," New York Times, April 4, 1965, P* 119-
"'Fair Lady,' Julie Andrews and Harrison Win Oscars," New York Times, April 6, 1965, p. 32.
Coe, Richard L. "One from the Aisle’: Tony Quinn as Life Force," Washington Post, February 10, 1965, p. CIO
Cook, Alton. "Movies: Quinn Carries 'Zorba' to a Lusty High- point," New York World-Telegram and Sun, December I8 , 1964, p. 22.
Crist, Judith. "The Greeks Have a Word for It," New York Her ald Tribune, December I8 , 1964, p. 11.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 175
Crowther, Bosley. "Screen: Zorba the Greek at the Statton," New York Times, December l8, 1964, p. 25 .
Culligan, Glendy. "Review of Report to Greco," Washington Post, August l4, 1965.
Dromazos, Stathis. "Pia x6 ptpxCo xaC tt taiuCa"/Âbout the book and the film/. Auge, April 4, I965, P- 5»
Du Bois, William. "Books of the Times: N. Kazantzakis' 'Zorba the Greek'," New York Times, April 15, 1953, p. 29 .
""Eva '9pLanP E u-clx6 tpCxtuxo, 6 ’ZoppxaC*, ot 'Tpwaôcq' xaC 6 Kaxoyt av vr)c; " /AT successful triptyc^/, Imera, March l4, 1965, p. 6.
Fuller, Edmund. "The Wild and Wooly Zorba," New York Times, April 19, 1953, VII4.
Hale, Wanda. "Zorba the Greek is an Unforgettable Film," Daily News (Washington), December I8 , 1964, p. 84.
Karandonis, Andreas."rpSppata xaC TcxvEpzUia paptupCa yta tov N.Ka^av- tçdxT) " /Arts and Letters: Testimony for Nikos Kazantzaki^, Imera, March 31, 1965, p. 5>
Karavia, Maria. " "AXXoc; avOpwxoc, ?itav 6 ZoppxSs "/Zorba was a different person/, Messimvrini, March 19, 1965, p. 5>
Kazantzalds, Helen. attr) pixpo^^xCaf '/Why all this pusillanimity?/, Eleftheria, March 21, 1965, p. 2.
" Kivnpa-toypacftxfi xpituxn : ’AXe^fji; Zoppxâc " /Film Review: Zorba the GreejY^, Messimvrini, March I6 , 1965, p. 5-
Lask, Thomas. "Greek to Greek: Director Michael Gacoyannis Talks About 'The Trojan Women'," New York Times, December 22, 1963, p. X5.
LVBVK. " Ct taLvCep tnq cpôopdôoc: ’ApEtéç xaC àôuvapCEC tou Zoppnâ " /Films of the Week; Virtues and weaknesses of 'Zorba//, Verna, March I6 , 1965, P- 2.
Lidorikes, Alecos. " ' EX Xn vox pat el tat x6 napCot " /Paris under a Greek seige/, Messimvrini, March 4, 1965, p. 7.
. " Zoppxas xaC 'FÉov' '/gorba and 'Neon//, Messimvrini, April 5, 1965.
M. "''Svac ÈpnpCtnc " /”hermit/) Acropolis, May 29, 1945, p. 1.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 176
MacArthur, Harry. "The Passing Show; Beware of Missing This Greek," Evening Star (Washington), February 11, 1965, P* C6.
Moschovakis, k."Oi v£cc; taivCcs : 'AXc(ns ZoppxSs" /The new movies: Zorba the Greet/', Auge, March 21, 1965, p. 2.
Nenedakis, Andreas." AtapaptupCec; yupu.&x6 tfiv -catvCa : ’ ExiotoXfi " /Protests over the film: A letter/. Auge, March 19, 1965, p. 2.
"New York Film Critics Awards," New York Times, December 29, 1964, p. 20.
Nikolaou, Costas. 'Tpdppa àxo tnv PcppavCa: N.Kaxoyidvvnc, xpottuw vd ôouXcOüj otdv xatpCôa " /Tetter from Germany: M. Gacoyannis, I prefer to work in Greece/, Verna, March 27, 1965-
"Nominations for Oscar," New York Times, February 24, 1965, p. 32 .
"0( ’AOrivalot xaC 6 Zoppxap : PvwpEP Qcatwv trjc; taivCat; xaC dva- Yvwotwv tou 3iBXCou"/People of Athens express their views on 'Zorba,' the book and the film/, Eleftheria, March 21, 1965, p. 9 .
Palaiologos, Pavlos. "Zt6 xcpL^tSpto trjc; %wnc: 'H tatvCa" /Ôn the sideline of life: The filn/, Verna, March 27, 1965, p. 1-
Pelihos, G.K. " KtvTipatoYPacpixfi xpitixn : 'AX£%nq ZoppxSc; " /Film review : Zorba the Greet/, Nea, March 16, 1965, P- 2.
Ploritis, Marios."Ki'VnpatcYpatptx-n xptttx-n ; *H dvtiotpog^ tou ZoppxS" /Tilm review: Zorba's inversior/, Eleftheria, March 17, 1965, p. 2.
" npop tov X. npwOuxoupyov 01 KpntEC did t6v ' Zoppxd' "/T o the Prime Minister on 'Zorba,' from the Cretans/, Ethnos, March 25, 1965, p. 2.
Ross, Walter S. "Greek Bearing Film Gifts," New York Times, January 24, 1965, p. 119.
" ZuvEvtEu^r) p£ tov AuyeM Y^d t6v Zoppxd " /Interview with- M. Avgeris on 'Z o r b a / / , Auge, March 21, 1965, p. 5.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 177
Tsouparopoulos, Athanasios." 'O ^EutoypaLxiopdc, ot6v xuvnuatoYpdtpo " faulty portrayal of Greeks in the movies/. Auge, March 28, 1965, p. 5.
Winston, Richard. "ClassAe-in Its Theme and Gay in Its Per formance: 'Zorba the Greek'," New York Herald Tribune Book Review, April 19, 1953, P-
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX A
THE CONSTITUTION OP GREECE
In the name of the Holy, Consubstantlal and Indivisible Trinity, the Fourth Revlsional Parliament of the Hellenes in Athens votes:
On Religion
Article 1
The established religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ; every other known religion is free and the forms of worship thereof shall be practiced without hindrance under the protection of the laws, proselytism and all other interference with the established religion being prohibited.
Article 2
The Orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging as its head our Lord Jesus Christ, is indissolubly united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and every other Church of the same doctrine, observing stead fastly, as they, the holy apostolic and synodical canons and holy traditions; it is autocephalous, exercizing its sovereign rights independently of every other Church, and it is administered by a Holy Synod of bishops. The ministers of all recognized religions shall be subject to the same superintendence on the part of the State as the ministers of the established religion.
The text of the Holy Scriptures shall be maintained unchanged; the rendering thereof into a different linguistic form without the previous sanction of the Autocephalous Church of Greece and of the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople is absolutely prohibited.
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The freedom of religious conscience is inviolable.
The free exercize of religious duties shall not be permitted to offend public order or good morals.
Nobody shall, by reason of his religious convictions, be exempt from discharging his obligations to the State or refuse to comply with the laws of the country.
Interpretation Clause.
The ecclesiastical situation prevailing in the New Provinces is not contrary to the true meaning of this article.
On Public Rights
Article 14
Any person may publish his opinion orally, in writing or in print with due adherence to the laws of the State. The press is free. Censorship and every other preventive measure is prohibited. The seizure of newspapers and other printed matter, either before or after publication, is like wise prohibited.
By exception, seizure after publication is permitted (a) because of insult to the Christian religion or indecent publications manifestly offending public decency, in the cases provided by law, (b) because of insult to the person of the King, the successor to the Throne, their vices or their offspring, (c) if the contents of the publication accord ing to the terms of the law be of such a nature as to (1) disclose movements of the armed forces of military significance or fortifications of the country, (2) be mani festly rebellious or directed against the territorial integrity of the nation or constitute an instigation to commit a crime of high treason; but in these cases, the public prosecutor must within twenty four hours from the seizure, submit the case to the judicial council which within a further twenty four hours, must decide whether the seizure shall be maintained or withdrawn, otherwise the seizure shall be ipso jure lifted. Only the publisher of the item seized shall be allowed to appeal against the judicial order.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I8l
After at least three convictions of a press offense which admits of seizure, the court shall order the permanent or temporary suspension of issue of the publication and, in grave cases, shall also prohibit the exercise of the profession of Journalist by the person convicted. Such suspension or prohibition shall commence from the time that the, court decision becomes final.
No person whatsoever shall be permitted to use the title of a suspended newspaper for ten years from the date of the permanent suspension thereof.
Press offenses shall be deemed offenses whose author is taken in the act.
Only Greek citizens who have not been deprived of their civic rights shall be allowed to publish newspapers.
The manner of rectifying through the press erroneous publications as well as the preconditions and qualifications for exercising the profession of Journalist shall be determined by law.
Enforcement by law of special repressive measures directed against literature dangerous to the morals of youth shall be permitted.
The provisions on the protection of the press con tained in the present article shall not be applicable to motion pictures, public shows, phonograph records, broadcast ing and other similar means of conveying speech or of representation. Both the publisher of the newspaper and the author of a reprehensible publication relating to one's private life shall, in addition to being subject to the penalty imposed according to the terms of the penal law, also be civilly and jointly liable to redress fully any loss occasioned by the injured party and to indemnify him by a sum of money as provided by law.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.