He Who Must Die

He Who Must Die (French: Celui qui doit mourir) is a 1957 French-Italian film directed by Jules Dassin. It is based on the novel Christ Recrucified (also published as The Greek Passion) by Nikos Kazantzakis. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

He Who Must Die
Film poster
Directed byJules Dassin
Written byBen Barzman
Jules Dassin
Produced byHenri Bérard
StarringJean Servais
Carl Möhner
Grégoire Aslan
CinematographyGilbert Chain
Jacques Natteau
Edited byRoger Dwyre
Pierre Gillette
Production
companies
Indusfilms
Prima Film
Cinétel
Filmsonor
Distributed byCinédis
Release date
  • 4 May 1957 (1957-05-04)
Running time
122 minutes
CountriesFrance
Italy
LanguageFrench

Plot

In a Turkish-occupied Greek village shortly after World War I, villagers put on a Passion Play, with ordinary people taking the roles of Jesus, Peter, Judas, etc. Staging the play leads to them rebelling against their Turkish rulers in a way that mirrors Jesus's story.[2]

Cast

Reception

The film received a generally positive response. It was favorably reviewed in Time and The New Yorker, and received awards in communist eastern Europe (Dassin was well known for his left-wing views), and even some liberal Catholics praised it.[2] Bosley Crowther for The New York Times described it as "brutally realistic", praising the "daring sort of candor and relentless driving" in the way it works out the logic of the plot, and he also praised all of the cast.[3]

References

  1. "Festival de Cannes: He Who Must Die". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  2. Berube, Maurice R. (2002). Beyond Modernism and Postmodernism: Essays on the Politics of Culture. p. 114. ISBN 9780897898058.
  3. Crowther, Bosley (29 December 1958). "Movie Review: He Who Must Die (1957) Screen: Greek Passion; 'He Who Must Die' Opens at Beekman". Retrieved 19 February 2014.
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