a with all of angelopoulos film and the suspended step of the stork implicitly demand a close and intimate participation on the part of the viewer and a fact that have certainly contribute to the limited popularity of his work . dialogue be spar and with no monologue or exchange exteriorize the character inner conflict and doubt and or feeling . the filmmaker prefers to keep the viewer away from their own emotional response and and instead force them to explore and study the character identity for themselves . a a result and the acting be understated and implicit and a oppose to overt and explicit . the action scene be set between long interval of contemplation and where the viewer be ask to become a participant and to participate a an actor and by probe his or her own psyche . a in a novel and where the drama rest entirely on the author write to provide a template where the reader imagination and or or past experience flourish and angelopoulos drama rest within his image represent his us of the long shot and the long take and the leisurely pacing and the sparing dialogue that have become his trademark and invite the viewer to experience the film from his or her personal perspective . angelopoulos us silence to capture moment of high intensity and revert to the non verbal language of gesture and gaze and sound and and music and when he believe that word can only take u so far . the music and by angelopoulos long time collaborator and eleni karaindrou and provide more than just a discreet background and but become itself a dramatic element of the story . a large part of the film consist of exterior shot in subtle and subdue color and record in a drab winter light . angelopoulos present u with an other greece and one far different from the greece of the tourist brochure and with ethereal blue sky and emerald sea and drown in an eternal sunshine . here and the sky be cover and gray and the air be cold and misty and and the sand of the pristine beach have be replace by the trampled and dirty snow of the village street . angelopoulos genius through arvanitis camera be on display throughout the film . the suspended step of the stork be above all else a political statement aim at the socio political situation in the balkan at the end of the twentieth century . it be deeply concern with the meaning of border and and with those who be the victim of the confusion between nation . in the waiting room face the albanian border and the refugee and political or other and outcast by the rest of humanity and wait . they may be stick against a political border and but unfortunately they still carry with them and and hang on and deep ancestral border represent those of the language and of the custom and and of the race . although angelopoulos political view be well know and the film steer clear of any political discourse regard the cause of the refugee plight . in the process and angelopoulos force u to meditate on the concept of geographical and cultural and political and and personal border . angelopoulos considers himself a historian of twentieth century greece and and he like to bring lesson from the hellenic myth into his discussion . in this film and he do some border cross himself between the greek and italian culture and draw from a combine homeric and dantesque tradition of odysseus travel . alexander be a telemachus and in search of a story about an age greek politician or odysseus who disappear and never to be hear of again . this political man and a brilliant orator and unexpectedly and inexplicably leave the comfort of his bourgeois existence and his wife and and his brilliant career and to live anonymously in a refugee camp with the low of the low . he become a poet in exile wonder how to change the world . of course and the politician be not alexander father and but the politician stand before alexander like a father figure or odysseus . a with homer telemachus and alexander grows a a person during his odyssey . of course and it would be wrong to try and see in the film a retelling of homer odyssey in a contemporary context . angelopoulos draw on odysseus travel only a structuring and thematic element for his film . in angelopoulos end and odysseus be more like the dante odysseus represent he do not leave for ithaca but go on and carry a suitcase . and alexander or telemachus be suspend between return to his home and his career and or embark on a voyage to somewhere else . he state as much and in a voice over at the beginning of the film and paraphrase few line from dante inferno represent and do not forget that the time for a voyage have come again . the wind blow your eye far away . finally and although angelopoulos be not a religious person and there be a greek orthodox religious theme introduce during the film in the form of the yellow suit linesman and who go around better thing for their fellow human being by reconnecting communication and and also the christ like figure of the politician . in the final scene and these men in yellow demonstrate once more the byzantine iconography influence in angelopoulos work . they appear like stylite and religious figure find in the orthodox tradition and solitary and fervent men who take up their abode upon the top of pillar and in a form of asceticism . the film end without a resolution a to the true identity of the character play by mastroianni . angelopoulos do not give u any clue and and the wife statement and it not him and be far from convince and leave ambiguous enough . the important question of the film be not whether he be or be not the vanished politician and but that he could be the politician . but the film still end on an optimistic note . whereas the wire string from pole to pole run only along the river and and thus communication across the border be still not possible and and it remain impenetrable and we note that this final scene be take from a point of view across the river represent the camera have cross the border and and the reverse track shot be invite alexander and the viewer to follow beyond the boundary . on this account and angelopoulos give u hope that somehow and some of the border will eventually crumble .