Mikis Theodorakis

The Greek composer takes the viewers on a journey through 70 years of his prolific musical career. He talks, analyzes and unfolds the inspirations of his works using a plethora of archive films which illustrate his explanations. In slightly under an hour, the chronologically structured documentary gives a concentrated overview of Theodorakis' seven-odd decades of artistic creation - from the first songs and the Kassiani liturgy of a young Theodorakis, over the chamber music pieces and Sinfonietta of the 'forties and the Suite Nr. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, among other works from his Paris years, to the wide-ranging song writing of the 'sixties, the Canto General Oratorio, the Symphony No 4, the rhapsodies for guitar and cello and the operas. The film approaches the phenomenon that is Theodorakis by letting the composer expound, and the music and images speak for themselves. From the heights of his 84 years, the dramatic Greek composer takes the viewers on a journey through 70 years of his prolific musical career. He talks, demonstrates, analyzes and unfolds the inspirations of his works using a plethora of archive films which illustrate his explanations. Pictures from his childhood, his love of Crete and the island's influence on the melodies he wrote, his experiences of release and total freedom: once after he returned from exile and the other when he escaped to Paris from the Regime of the Colonels.