David Conrad Playwright Euripides' barrier-crossing sympathy for women on the losing side of the mythic Trojan war could have been written over two millennia later as a sword-and-sandal allegory of some contemporary conflict. The enduring relevance was not lost on adapter/producer/director/editor/composer Michael Cacoyannis, who dedicates the movie to those who would resist oppression. Yet this dedication misses the point, because Euripides' script begins after the time for resistance has come and gone and all is truly lost. All that is left is to discover how insidious and inescapable total defeat is. Try as they might to deny the end of their culture, to assign blame, to comfort themselves through religion, to remember that they were once great, to find some small triumph in the ability to stand upright, the Trojan women may not retain even a shred of their past dignity. It is not that the Greeks gloat: the Greek soldier who speaks the most is apologetic and respectful in response to powerful speeches delivered by women of such presence as Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Irene Papas, but in the end he is the victor and with that comes the obligation, distasteful though he may find it, to play the part. The part of the conquered is nevertheless the more distasteful, and the more ineluctable.

MARIO GAUCI Some years back, I had watched and been reasonably impressed with the director's similar ELECTRA (1962), being likewise a Greek tragedy; after the debacle of THE DAY THE FISH CAME OUT (1967), he must have felt safe dealing with the classics (this one derives from Euripedes). The resulting film, however, is quite a chore to sit through – made palatable by Mikis Theodorakis' brooding score and the fact that it looks good – as we get 106 minutes of the women of fallen Trojan soldiers after the famous 10-year war with Greece bemoaning their fate (it is dedicated to people standing up to oppression everywhere), being herded off as slaves to the conquerors, and tearing each other apart (which rather belies its possible secondary intention as a feminist statement) while waiting to be shipped!; the film, then, ends with the burning of Troy.Though featuring a stalwart cast, only Katharine Hepburn as Hecuba, wife of the late King Priam, appears all the way through; the rest – Genevieve Bujold as her mad daughter Cassandra, Vanessa Redgrave as her daughter-in-law Andromache (wife of the Trojan champion Hector, slain by the Greek demi-god Achilles) and Irene Papas as the famed Helen Of Troy (she left her Greek husband Menelaus for the Trojan prince Paris, also deceased, and over whom the whole battle was waged). Still, each lady is allowed one scene in which to shine: while Papas makes for probably the strongest Helen ever, the role allows the actress (a Cacoyannis regular) to display an atypical sensuousness; Redgrave, on the other hand, comes across as strident and altogether too stagey! As for Hepburn herself, ever since 1956's THE RAINMAKER, she had been mostly participating in highbrow stuff (notably adaptations of Tennessee Williams' SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER {1959} and Eugene O'Neill's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT {1962} and the probe into medieval British royalty that was THE LION IN WINTER {1968}): though such films undeniably added to her prestigious label of Grand Dame of the acting profession, her idiosyncrasies – which were irritating in her more standard vehicles – tended to become all the more evident within this heightened environment! Incidentally, having mentioned British royalty, it is worth pointing out that both Hepburn and Redgrave had portrayed Mary Stuart while both Redgrave and Bujold had played Anne Boleyn (with Papas being Catherine of Aragon to the latter's younger replacement)! The only two men to get significant parts here are a necessarily restrained Patrick Magee as Menelaus (goaded by Hecuba to punish Helen's infidelity and, by extension, the sorrow she caused to all concerned by putting her to death) and Brian Blessed as his gruff but conscientious herald (he is sickened, for instance, by the fact that he has been ordered to eliminate Redgrave's young son in expiation but which he cannot bring himself to refuse from carrying out).

ma-cortes Circa 1196 B.C. , in a decade in which a tribe of Achaeans from Greece commanded by Agamenon engagement war a prosperous and thriving city nearly the mouth of Hellespont , called Ilium of Troy . It was a big city with high walls and four gates , being destroyed by a violent war . The details on this war stayed in legend throughout Dark Ages of Micenic civilization . Four centuries later , they were immortalized by an illustrious Greek poet named Homer on his plays titled ¨Iliad¨ and ¨Odyssey¨. Later on , Euripides wrote powerful tragedies about these events , in which details appealing characters and dramatic happenings , focusing the women who remain after the fall of Troy and regarding the king Agamenon .The motion picture revolves around the Trojan survivor women , one time army is vanquished and relies heavily on four declamatory monologues starred by four greatest and unquestionable actresses . Awesome Katharine Hepburn as Queen Hecuba , widow of Priamo , King of Troy ; their daughter the virginal-nutty Cassandra , a prophetess-princess , well played by Genevieve Bujold who arises emotion of the tale ; magnificent Vanessa Redgrave as Andromaca , Hector's wife , who carries the armor dressed by her deceased husband ; and extraordinary Irene Papas as Helen , continuously asking her pardon and innocence on the facts who caused the oldest story of love and war . Besides , minor performances by Brian Blessed as a Greek messenger and Patrick McGee as Menelaus . The sacked city was filmed in Spain on the Sierra of Atienza , Guadalajara with not many scenarios.The film belongs to a trilogy faithfully based on playwright Euripides , a fine rendering directed by Michael Cacoyannis , including the musician Mikis Theodorakis and starred by Irene Papas , the grandest Greek actress . As ¨Ifginea¨ concerning the sacrifice by Agamenon of his daughter Ifginea because the winds to sail to Troy refuse to blow ; as ¨Elektra¨ in which Clymnestra and her lover Aesgisthes kill her husband Agamenon after his return from Troy and confrontation between mother Clymnestra , her daughter Elektra and brother Orestes . Rating : Notable, well worth watching for the acting of the four female actresses.

cooldarkraven I enjoyed the two other films I have seen from this director, "Zorba the Greek" and his best foreign film nom. "Ipthgina". My complaint with those and with this is that they are too long. The play this is based on may be lacking in quailty to the others. Either way I would not recommend it.3/10