Protagonist

Jessica Wu's fascinating documentary Protagonist explores psychological observations found in the plays of Euripides to illustrate the universality of human experience. The decision to have wooden puppets “recite” passages in ancient Greek that exemplify the Athenian dramatist's concepts—as well as to act out episodes in the lives of four modern men whose extensive autobiographical recollections reveal Euripides' continuing relevance—might have been disastrous. But Wu weaves these elements, together with animated segments inspired by Athenian pottery paintings, into a seamless whole to present an argument that is both provocative and profound. Her extensive interviews with the quartet of subjects—an anti-gay minister who finally admitted his homosexuality, a German terrorist who ultimately rejected the credo of violence, a bullied boy who found release in martial arts, and an abused child who became a bank robber—explore the same themes of obsession and potentially destructive absolutism that Euripides examined in his tragedies. The point, as Greek thinkers were fond of observing, is that human nature is unchanging: the struggles that men and women faced more than two millennia ago are essentially still being played out today. A poignant and serious meditation on human psychology, Protagonist is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)