Days of 36

Could be a more riveting and engaging political prison film, but the tone the film goes for just feels so off -- there's a rigidness to the mise en scene that alleviates a lot of much needed urgency, to the point where I started to wonder if this was a subtle comedy. If this directorial handle had been a bit more thought-out, this would be quite a good film.

(Viewed in 2011): The events of Days of '36 gravely foreshadow Metaxas' tyrannical reign, and Angelopoulos relates this hostage tale marked by political corruption and incompetence in a rather dry long take style that's not particularly suspenseful and vaguely reminiscent of Jancso. There is a 360 degree shot that is quite daring, but a delightfully absurd moment of a general giving a pompous speech in an empty field suggests that it would have played better as a sharp Bunuelian satire.

Like a long series of pretty establishing shots with a little bit of movie thrown in. There's very little speech. Most of the time it's like Angelopoulos is more interested in visual compositions than plot, making Days of '36 look like a political thriller commissioned by the nature channel. However, once you get over this very odd style of filmmaking, it is an interesting (if rather slight) movie and worth a watch.