The best Irene Papas’s history movies
Irene Papas (born September 3, 1926) is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.
Z
8.2/10
Repression is the rule of the day in this film that skewers Greek governance of the 1960s. Z, a leftist rabble rouser, is killed in what appears to be a traffic accident. But given the political climate, the death of such a prominent activist raises troubling questions. Though it's too late to save Z's life, a postmortem examination suggests that the ruling party was behind his death. As the facts leak out, those who tell the truth pay the price for their honesty.
The Message
8.1/10
Handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed.
Lion of the Desert
8.2/10
This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya in WWII. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.
Anne of the Thousand Days
7.4/10
Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
5.9/10
When a Greek fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during WWII, his fiancee falls in love with the local Italian commander. The film is based on a novel about an Italian soldier's experiences during the Italian occupation of the Greek island of Cephalonia (Kefalonia), but Hollywood made it into a pure love story by removing much of the "unpleasant" stuff.
Jacob
6.5/10
In this inspiring tale from the book of Genesis, young shepherd Jacob (Matthew Modine) falls in love with and wants to marry Rachel (Lara Flynn Boyle), the daughter of his Uncle Laban (Giancarlo Giannini). Lacking a dowry, Jacob toils seven years as his uncle's indentured servant to win Rachel's hand. But calculating Laban dupes him into another seven years of labor. Irene Papas portrays Jacob's iron-willed mother.
Christ Stopped at Eboli
7.7/10
In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.
Odissea
Odysseus' journey told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.
The Odyssey
Sweet Country
4.9/10
An American couple in Chile is drawn into the turmoil that followed President Salvador Allende's 1973 overthrow.
Theodora, Slave Empress
5.8/10
Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But the divide between nobility and slave is too great. Teodora seeks justice for her people, and revolution and armed conflict erupt in both Byzantium and Rome.
Moses the Lawgiver
6.1/10
Story of Moses. Originally a TV Miniseries recut for theaters
Antigone
7.2/10
In Thebes in ancient Greece, King Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother Jocasta, having two sons - Eteocles and Polyneices - and two daughters - Ismene and Antigone. King Oedipus dies a beggar in the exile after gouging out his own eye, and Eteocle agrees to reign in Thebes in alternating years with Polynices. However, he refuses to resign after the first year and Polynieces raises an army and attacks Thebes, and they kill each other. The ruler of Thebes Creon decrees that Eleocles should have an honorable burial while the body of the traitor Polyneices should be left on the battlefield to be eaten by the jackals and vultures. However, Antigone, who was betrothed to Creon's surviving son Haemon, defies Creon's orders and buries her brother. When Creon is reported of the attitude of Antigone, he sentences her to be placed in a tomb alive. Antigone hangs herself in the tomb and Haemon tries to kill his father first and then he kills himself with his sword...
A Talking Picture
6.6/10
A meditation on civilization. July, 2001: friends wave as a cruise ship departs Lisbon for Mediterranean ports and the Indian Ocean. On board and on day trips in Marseilles, Pompeii, Athens, Istanbul, and Cairo, a professor tells her young daughter about myth, history, religion, and wars. Men approach her; she's cool, on her way to her husband in Bombay. After Cairo, for two evenings divided by a stop in Aden, the captain charms three successful, famous (and childless) women, who talk with wit and intellect, each understanding the others' native tongue, a European union. The captain asks mother and child to join them. He gives the girl a gift. Helena sings. Life can be sweet.
Electra
7.6/10
Living in exile after the death of their father, the grown children of a murdered and usurped king converge to exact eye-for-an-eye revenge.
A Child Called Jesus
6.9/10
The film attempts to fill in the "missing years" of Jesus, from ages 3 through 12. When King Herod fearing that the Messiah has indeed been born, orders that all Hebrew male children under the age of three be slain, Joseph moves his family near Egypt. Here, Jesus, sensing His divinity, expresses a desire to return to Nazareth. Travelling homeward with His mother Mary, Jesus flashes forward to events that will unfold in his adult life.
The Lake of Sighs
6.4/10
Ioannina, in the beginning of the 19th century. The whole Greece is under Turks. Ioannina is governed by the fierce and vulgar Ali Pasas. Ali’s eldest son, Muchtar, falls in love with a young Greek widow, Frosyni. The problem is, he’s married to the vindictive and cruel Chanife. And the muslim penalty for having an affair with a married man is death…
Bouboulina
6.4/10
The life and action of Laskarina Bouboulina. Captain Lascarina decides to organize the revolution in Spetses and to participate herself, despite her double widowhood. In the struggle for the liberation of Greece, she gives all her property and fighting along with her lads.
