Customer Reviews

Antigone - Rites of Passion

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Only an experimental film can tick people off this much, you know? "Antigone: Rites of Passion" is director Amy Greenfield's first feature film, in which she retells Sophocle's classical tragedy about the daughter of Oedipus, who defied King Creon of Thebes and buried her brother. The story is told through action, dance and cutting-edge rock music. The movement is essentially nonstop, from the camera if not the performers. Some critics have tried to characterize it as a rock opera film, but I think it clearly belongs in the category of experimental film. The music for this 1990 effort is by Elliot Sharp, Glenn Branca and Diamanda Galas. Ironically, I think the more familiar you are with this classic tale, the more open you might be to the extreme interpretation. The ending, which is essentially a requiem, is a bit over the top for me but does fit the overall progression of the film in which the injustices of the world build to a crescendo. Ultimately, I consider "Antigone: Rites of Passion" to be more creative than provocative. It is certainly more interesting than most films involving interpretative dance I have seen, but I fully understand that this one is not going to be any where near to most people's cup of tea (more like hemlock apparenlty).

My wife begged me to view this DVD with her, which was required for a college course she is taking. She is really in the doghouse now! I found absolutely no redeeming qualities in this movie. It is incredibly boring. It hints strongly at various sexual perversions, including incest and necrophilia. The cinematography is poor, with one scene even showing mud spatters on the camera lens. The music sounded as if it was from India and therefore did not seem compatible with a Greek play. And NEVER should a version of Antigone be shown with Creon (spelling?) wearing a pair of cheap cowboy boots (and we had several close-ups of them, at that). There was no dialogue at all, only a spattered narrative in the background. I think the production was supposed to be interpretive dance, but it missed that too--I would call it interpretive movement, at best. The movements were repetitive and mechanical across all characters. It seemed just an excuse for bodies to slither against each other (especially if they were brother and sister, daughter and father, sister and dead brother, etc.) You'd think with all these bodies slithering, you could at least get some gratuitous nudity, but NO, none of that either. This looked like something that would have been seen in a hippie lair in the 60s, meant to be viewed only while under the influence. My wife and I always give a letter grade to any movie we see. This movie has become the all-time worst, with a grade of F--, finally pushing King Solomon's Mines up one place from the bottom. In states with no death penalty, I recommend that this movie be repeatedly forced upon prisoners convicted of heinous crimes.

Where to start? Amy Greenfield's "emotionally relentless, visually stunning" interpretation of the classic play is admittedly "relentless" and I was indeed "stunned." The video was purchased to augment an eleventh grade honors class, ostensibly to show a different, modern, visual interpretation of a Greek classic that touches us still, thousands of years later. Sophocles's play does still affect us today because it taps into primal human issues--family honor, immortality, fate, the role of government, faith, and the list goes on. Greenfield's overblown piffle does not. I do not recommend this for anyone, except as a study in bad, self-important "Art" with that tell-tale capitol "A". This isn't dance. The important dialogue is absent. The music is discordant, oppressive and the best part of the whole mess. The oracle at Delphi was clear to both Oedipus and his father, Laius: Oedipus will kill his father, marry his mother and have monstrous children. Finally, in the form of Amy Greenfield's "Antigone: Rites of Passion" we have the monstrous child at last. Apollo is always right. And you know what? He'd tell you not to buy this turkey.

Well. After watching this horrific excuse for a movie in my Honors English class, I almost vomited. Many times. I was disgusted through the entire experience. Whether it was the semi-pornographic staging or the scary screaming that they called music (which resembled someone with a really bad screeching laugh), I can't decide which one scarred me more. I also would like to know why Creon was dressed like Darth Vader. Plus, why was Antigone a Mantigone? I mean, let's face it, she was in no way feminine. At all. In the least bit. The "dancing" (if I would call it that) was disgusting and not even slightly school appropriate or normal. The one good thing about this movie is that it is good to have around for a laugh, because in no way could anyone take this pathetic excuse for Greek theatre seriously.

After being involved with theater for years and teaching English, I would like nothing more than to post my own thoughts on this film; however I think the most accurate review I can give is through my students' comments:

"Why does Antigone look like a man?"
"Why aren't they talking?"
*plugs ears* "Aaah! What's with that music?"
"These people are possessed! If not, it sure sounds like it!"
"When Ismene tells Antigone about their brothers' deaths, why does it look like they're about to have sex?"
"When Antigone goes to the fallen body of Polyneices, why does it look like she's trying to kiss it? What's that called again... necrophilia?"
"Why does Haemon look more like a woman than Antigone?"
"I think this is the worst movie... ever... Even worse than Mommy Dearest."

It's not only experimental films that tick people off. There are mainstream movies that tick people off too, because either the direction, or acting, or editing, or interpretation, or all of the above fails.

This one fails, for me, from all of the above. Some of the acting is OK, but others were flat. Most of the characterizations were 2-dimensional (at best). Antigone seems to have the same painful constipated look on her face the entire time. Some consider this a rock opera adaptation - not even. The music is forgettable, and there is no singing (operas are not purely instrumental), unless you want to consider the wailing as singing. At this point it may be useful to note there is essentially no dialog in this film. It is more like silent movie of an interpretive dance with a forgettable sound track played along with it.

It's also stark - not so much in scenery, which at times is anachronistic, but in the placing of so few people on the stage against such a large canvas. It gives the film a post-apocalyptic feel to it.

If you are an Antigone fan or scholar, and if you want to research all adaptations and versions, then get this version. If you are an obsessive fan of interpretive dance, then buy this. Otherwise, while sometimes an "out of the box" interpretation can be refreshing, even revealing - showing another side to the story, for me, this was not refreshing, and revealed little. I have a wide range of tastes, but not this wide.

We saw this sophomore year in Honors Humanities after reading Antigone. I enjoyed it very much. It was actually very educational. I now understand that there are some very strange people in the world. This video was almost like "educational" softcore porn, which pretty much everybody in my class enjoyed. If you want to make somebody laugh, this is the movie to have them watch, but make sure they understand Antigone's story first.

From beginning to end, the students in the AP English Class at my high school where stunned by the "over-dramatic" and offensive imagery portrayed in this movie. It was too much to bear. I would never, ever recommend under any circumstance borrowing, buying, or being gifted with this film.

When I ordered it I did it because I knew that Diamanda Galas - my favorite artist - was partially responsible for the music. I'm usually very pre-occupied with modern "glances" on Ancient Hellenic tragedies. It is my belief that a remake of something as classical, as powerfull and as timelessly meaningful as every Ancient Hellenic tragedy is can be eigther a masterpiece or a complete disaster.
The first few minutes that I watched, I felt that it would be a disaster but I thought "what the hell, I gave my money to buy this DVD so I'll watch it to the end". And so I did.
I'm not in a position that makes me to say only that I fortunately didn't switch off my DVD player. I'm in the position to say that I feel extremely previleged to have Amy Greenfield's work on Antigone. And that's because I figured out that she has kept a very basic element of Ancient Hellenic tragedy. The slow and escelating motivation of the viewers interest for the play. Antigone realy gets more and more interesting as the minutes pass.
I won't get involved in a detailed analysis of the film witch realy exposes its meanings and its power little be little. I just want to say that Amy Greenfield did such a splendid work that she deserves to claim that she did a remake equal only to masterpieces.