MovieChat Forums > Alexis Zorbas (1964) Discussion > Extremely Disappointing *Spoiler*

Extremely Disappointing Spoiler

posted 16 years ago by artoor2002
3 replies | jump to latest

I decided to watch this film last night after I read the book this past summer. And I must say, as a LOVER of the book, this film really disappointed me. It didn't live up at all to the book and portions of the plot that I believe are important to Zorba's legacy was not included in the film.

Now I understand that when films are made from books, usually always the book is better than the film. But in this case, the book slaughtered the film.

For example, Zorba barely talked about his past loves- I recall in the book there were many conversations where he was talking about woman he was with in Russia and how he moved from one woman to the next.

Zorba barely played the santuri. If there was one thing that I clearly remember is how the narrator (boss) always asked Zorba to play the santuri where as Zorba would only play when he felt like it.

There wasn't enough philosophical dialogue. The book was full of Zorba's thoughts about god, death, and life. The film replicated I would say no more than 10% of the words of Zorba.

I respect Alan Bates, but I didn't think he did a good job playing along side Zorba. There was something about the character relationship that was so much more natural in the novel than on film. It looked forced and I didn't see the chemistry on film as much as when I turned the pages.

There is more I probably am forgetting, but I am tired so I will wrap this up. The ending was *beep* In the book, Zorba and the boss split up where as Zorba spends the rest of his days I believe with a woman in Bulgaria?? He then passes away and the boss receives a letter about his death telling him to come and pick up his santuri because that was Zorbas request.

I dont understand how they leave that part out. It was such a powerful ending to me in the book. Now don't get me wrong, anyone who has just watched the film and not read the book would perhaps be satisfied with the ending- since it was "Happy" with them dancing on the beach. But I believe this in many ways tarnished the original story.

Nevertheless, Please if you haven't done so, read the book to really understand one of the greatest literary characters of all time. This film doesn't do Zorba justice.

I give it a 5.6/10

And yes, I am interested in the some opinions about what I say.

Peace
Artoor

[–] alhurlbut 16 years ago

Respect your opinion, but I found the book tedious. If the film had followed the book faithfully, it would have been six hours long.

[–] explicit7string 15 years ago

Books and film are different media with their own mechanics and intricacies. You shouldn't expect any film based on a book to be 100% faithful to its source material, that will only ruin your enjoyment of a fine film. Treat the book and the movie as separate entities and you'll see the movie is pretty good (and that comes from someone who's a huge fan of the book).

[–] HenryCW 15 years ago

Actually, the ending of the film is not much different from the ending of the book. In the book, the author (Basil in the film) and Zorba never met again after they left Crete, though they sometimes corresponded by letter and so he knew what happened to Zorba afterwards. So the ending of the film is in effect also the last "scene" of the book - unless they append some text or use voiceover at the end of the film, both of which would be of doubtful wisdom.