The Owl’s Legacy

Famed filmmaker Chris Marker’s (1921-2012) 13-episode TV series, originally aired in 1989 on the French network La Sept (the forerunner of today’s ARTE France) but never broadcast on this side of the Atlantic, presents an invigorating intellectual discussion on ancient Greece’s continued impact around the world. Each episode is predicated on a single Greek word—such as "democracy," "nostalgia," "mythology," and "tragedy"—and features artists and intellectuals from the U.S., Europe, and Japan who offer their observations on how the ancient Greeks continue to influence modern thought and behavior. Some of the conversations are filmed in a banquet setting, with the experts seated behind food-and-wine-heavy tables (although, oddly, not consuming the feast before them), while others are shot using a traditional talking head set-up. Along the way, there are some cutaway scenes of plaster copies of ancient Greek statues, and the episode based on the word "Olympics" contains scenes from Leni Riefenstahl’s film Olympia to illustrate a 20th-century appropriation of the ancient spectacle. While many of the interviewees will likely not be familiar to contemporary American viewers—the filmmakers Elia Kazan and Theo Angelopoulos are, arguably, the most famous participants—an accompanying 24-page booklet is a helpful guide. The insights and commentary here are cerebral without becoming pedantic, and Marker’s camerawork keeps the series visually compelling. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)