the weeping meadow ( trilogia i represent to livadi pou dakryzei ) be writer or director theodoros angelopoulos ( with influence from tonino guerra plus assistance from petros markaris and giorgio silvagni ) create a personal vision of the 20th century . the incredibly gift greek poet of a filmmaker mirror the life and death of his own mother whose time on earth span a century and elect to capture the 100 year of sadness in a trilogy of film represent the weeping meadow be part i and detail the year 1919 through 1949. it be a masterwork . the film open with what will be the trademark look of the movie vista of lonely people in a nearly monochromatic color space that use water and both from rain and the collected result of rain . a group of refugee from odessa have land by a river in thessaloniki where they must attempt to reconstruct their life . among them be a family a wife and husband with their young son and a three year old orphan eleni they have protect . the entire movie seem to be in slow motion and but that be just the studied and unhurried rhythm of angelopoulos direction . a time pass we find that eleni at a very early age have just give birth to twin boy while she have be send away for the family appearances represent the father be the young son of the family . the story progress through the world war and the civil war and the influence of hitler and mussolini and the natural disaster of flood and disease and the social disparity of class and the rise of union and the fall of democracy all mirror in the family that be try to make the chaos of living in greece resemble some sort of order . the young man be a musician and once he and eleni have reunite with their twin boy and he decide he will go to america and the land of promise for poverty stricken refugee and to work and make enough money to bring eleni and the twin to america . but in his absence the progressive civil unrest and poverty the three endure in his absence result in the ultimate dissolution of the family . the story be less important than the mood evoke . the cinematography by andreas sinanos be a long gallery of miraculously compose and beautiful image represent the cortège on the river and the flapping white sheet behind which we discover musician and the constant vista of the ocean and the river and the village and the battleground burn themselves onto our visual field and into memory . the gorgeous music that accompany this symphonic work be by eleni karaindrou and mix folksong with wondrous symphonic moment . the cast be superb represent they manage to create very specific people despite the fact that we rarely see them up close . but in the end this visual treasure be the extraordinary work of theodoros angelopoulos . if this be part i of a trilogy ( at almost three hour run time ) and we can only imagine the power that will follow in the part ii and iii . experience the weep meadow take patience and a long uninterrupted period of time while the reward be immeasurably fine . in greek with english subtitle . grady harp .