He Who Must Die (French: Celui qui doit mourir) is a 1957 French-Italian film directed by Jules Dassin. It is based on the novel Christ Recrucified (also published as The Greek Passion) by Nikos Kazantzakis. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Plot
In a Turkish-occupied Greek village shortly after World War I, villagers put on a Passion Play, with ordinary people taking the roles of Jesus, Peter, Judas, etc. Staging the play leads to them rebelling against their Turkish rulers in a way that mirrors Jesus's story.[2]
Cast
- Jean Servais as Photis
- Carl Möhner as Lukas
- Grégoire Aslan as Agha
- Gert Fröbe as Patriarcheos
- Teddy Bilis as Hadji Nikolis
- René Lefèvre as Yannakos
- Lucien Raimbourg as Kostandis
- Melina Mercouri as Katerina
- Roger Hanin as Pannagotaros
- Pierre Vaneck as Manolios
- Dimos Starenios as Ladas
- Nicole Berger as Mariori
- Maurice Ronet as Michelis
- Fernand Ledoux as Grigoris
- Joe Dassin as Benos
Reception
The film received a generally positive response. It was favorably reviewed in Time and The New Yorker, and received awards in communist eastern Europe (Dassin was well known for his left-wing views), and even some liberal Catholics praised it.[2] Bosley Crowther for The New York Times described it as "brutally realistic", praising the "daring sort of candor and relentless driving" in the way it works out the logic of the plot, and he also praised all of the cast.[3]
References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: He Who Must Die". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
- ^ a b Berube, Maurice R. (2002). Beyond Modernism and Postmodernism: Essays on the Politics of Culture. p. 114. ISBN 9780897898058.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (29 December 1958). "Movie Review: He Who Must Die (1957) Screen: Greek Passion; 'He Who Must Die' Opens at Beekman". Retrieved 19 February 2014.
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