Greek Fire

Greek fire was a legendary substance which supposedly stayed alight underwater. An analogy, the premise of this ambitious 10-part series suggests, is that Greek ideals and thinking pervade our modern thought. A multi-national production that originally aired on British television last year, Greek Fire is beautifully filmed, with more style than is usually found in this type of documentary. We watched the first three episodes: Source, Myth, and Politics. Beginning with the Greek admonition "Know thyself," Source offers pungent commentary from a host of experts in military, historical, and literary fields about the common misconceptions we have about ancient Greece. As an introductory episode, Source tends to range far and wide, and the often stimulating commentary by the interviewees is unfavorably balanced with odd, somewhat mystical narration from the filmmakers. Questions trail off without answers. The camera pans back and forth across a huge apartment complex while strident music conveys the sense of...what? A bit disappointed, we popped in the second episode with renewed expectations. Marvel Comics' leading light Stan Lee offers some interesting speculation about the need for gods and heroes, and the program shifts to am promising mountain shot with voiceover narration about the Gods on Mt. Olympus. But just as if Zeus had hurled a thunderbolt into our VCR, our hopes were quickly dashed. The nimble-footed narrator took up the story of Freud's life and his Oedipus Complex theory. Except for a few comments likening modern man's mind to Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth, Freud's use of mythology was pretty much the rest of the program. We're not quitters, so we queued up program numero trey: Politics. Although plagued by the same meandering narration of the first two episodes, this tape made some very interesting observations about the differences between 5th-century Athenian democracy and democracy Ronnie Reagan-style. Of particular interest was the program's stance that true democracy evolved out of reason and stability, not revolution (which characterizes the birth of most modern democracies). In the final analysis then, our response is mixed. Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes aimless, beautiful to look at, occasionally confusing to listen to, Greek Fire is a mixed bag. You won't get the standard tired history lesson here, but you won't get moment-by-moment enlightenment either. An optional purchase. The remaining titles in the series are: Sex, Tragedy, Architecture, Science, Art, Ideas, and War. (Available from: Mystic Fire Video, Box 1092, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276.)