MovieChat Forums > Alexis Zorbas (1964) Discussion > Some views from a greek who has read th...

Some views from a greek who has read the book,too.

posted 15 years ago by armagezon
2 replies | jump to latest

Hi,everyone.

I recently read the book of Nikos Kazantzakis and loved it.

(You must know that kazantzakis was to receive the nobel prize of literature,but lost it to Albert Camus by one vote, and arguably due to the greek goverment's propaganda, because Kazantzakis was considered somekind of an heretic...Camus himself has stated that Nikos deserved the prize 100 times more than he did...)

Anyway, the book was a masterpiece:funny,deeply but simply-given philosofical and touching. It also depicted the morals and characters of the region in a great way. Especially, it pictured the thoughts of Kazantzaki's himself, who was actually the narrator in the first person.

Now,the movie...i saw it soon after the book so i remember enough to compare. It was quite loyal tothe book, but had some points that bothered me, having read the book previously.

1) In the book, it is utterly and clearly stated that Kazantzakis loves Zorba and is deeply affected by him. In the prologue, he writes that 4 are the personalities that have influenced him the most:Homer,Nietchze,Bergson and Zorba(!!). Also, in the book we see that he loves him very much. But in the movie, this was not shown, and we see him even to get angry at Zorba.

2)In the book, there was so much more analysis concerning the characters and their thoughts:about God,love, woman etc...Of course, the movie can't tell everything there is in the book, but there were many crucial points neglected.

3)The narration could be as in the book:first person. Thus, we could follow Kazantzaki's complex thoughts( his personal enquiries and struggles are vast in the book) and learn more about his relationship with Zorbas, which was clearly underdeveloped in the movie

In conclusion, the movie was very good, but having read the book in its original form(that is without translation) and knowing the facts about my own country, these things bothered me a little. Of course, if you haven't read the book, it is ok, but anyway the movie is almsot great!!

[–] yj270 13 years ago

Sas efcharistó! I will have to read the book, based on what you said.

[–] StrayFeral 11 years ago

I am reading the book now, just passed the middle. You cannot blame the movie creators - a movie play time can never capture all the essences of a book. I am originally from Sofia, Bulgaria (I now live in Canada) and I totally understand both the book and the movie - the people of Crete, just as Zorba says several times, are the usual Balkanians, not the Downtown Athens or Downtown Sofia or any big city citizens. This is what most people who post here fail to understand. Even being raw, but their world is pretty beautiful and they live a wise life.

But yes, whoever wants to understands the world more have to read the book.

"The sleeper must be awaken!"