He Who Must Die (Celui qui doit mourir)
Directed by Jules Dassin
Written by Ben Barzman, Jules Dassin, and André Obey from a novel by Nikos Kazanzakis
1957/Italy/France
Indusfilms/Prima Film/et al
First viewing/YouTube
[box] Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. — Proverbs 14:31, NIV[/box]
Not all religious allegories work as well as this one.
The story takes place in the 1920’s when parts of Greece were still occupied by Turkey. As the film opens, we see a village burning and villagers grieving somewhere in Greece. Nothing is left for them here after many of the men have been massacred and all their homes destroyed. They set off singing to find a new home under the charismatic leadership of Priest Fotis (Jean Servais).
We move on to a prosperous village where Greeks have reached an accomodation with the Turks. Each year the village puts on a Passion Play. Priest Patriarcheas (Gert Fröbe) casts the parts. He picks the son of the wealthiest man to play the Apostle John, the postman to play Peter, the town prostitute Katerina (Melina Mercouri) to play Mary Magdalene, one of her reprobate customers as Judas and a stuttering shepherd to play Jesus.
The dispossessed villagers arrive in town. Patriarchais and the wealthy man tell the villagers that they will never get rid of these “beggars” if they help them. Finally one of the women collapses dead and Patriarchais declares that the people have cholera and no one should go near them. Fotis knows these people have plenty of uncultivated land and takes his flock into the hills nearby where they continue to starve. He refuses to move on.
Finally, the villagers playing Jesus and John go up to the hills. They discover the people there do not have cholera and need help. The greed and fear of reprisal by the establishment makes Patriarchais fight them every step of the way. The tragedy plays out a lot like the Passion Play.
The story is simple but very moving and well filmed by Dassin. The message is timeless. Unfortunately, the print on YouTube does not measure up in quality.
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