Jeff--Saturday
A couple weeks back I wrote about March 25th being the 200th Anniversary of the commencement of Greece's War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. A war that lasted until Greece won its freedom in 1832. It is an epic David and Goliath story of bravery, sacrifice, atrocity, and world powers ultimately uniting to do the right thing. In honor of the occasion, I planned on writing about those years as a possible means for understanding current relations between Greece and the Ottomans of today.
So, I began my research and lo and behold discovered the obvious: there's an awful lot on the subject, all readily available to anyone who wants to read up on it.
My dilemma was simple, should I pass on that idea, or re-invent the wheel. Then fate stepped in and spared me. As if by magic, I found a link in the Greek Reporter to a documentary narrated by Nasos Papargyropoulos, filmed by Odysseas Karadis and Konstantinonos Mousoulis, and with photographs by Elias Pergantis, featuring historically accurate renditions of the battles of the Greek Revolution.
I watched it, and though there is no way to condense more than a decade of war into six minutes, in this mini-documentary I found understanding, inspiration, and that film can still move me to tears.
I'm not sure how you'll see it, but I suggest that you do. Here's the Video. If it doesn't run, here's the link to YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pcY9b3dasg
--Jeff
Posts
Amazing. The world has SO much history that goes unknown by virtually everyone. We each 'know' our own little piece (frequently erroneously :-), but it's just a puddle next to the wide ocean of the rest of the world, thousands of years deep. Freedom, peace, and civility, brother, for all and for always.
ReplyDeleteWell put, EvKa, and magnify the implications of that if the world realized that every living being has her or his own life history and dreams.
DeleteYes, indeed. I'd like to learn more about it. Any accessible books you would recommend?
ReplyDeleteThis needs a Hilary Mantel to do it fictional justice.
Very good question, Michael. There is a huge bibliography on Wikpedia under sources for "Greece War of Independence," but my friend and publisher of Athens Insider Magazine "highly" recommends Roderick Beaton's "Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation" (Penguin). Here's a bit from the back cover.
Delete"This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last 300 years, of building a modern nation on, sometimes literally, the ruins of a vanished civilisation. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and perhaps more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics, it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people and of ideas."
A concise summary. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis film is extremely well done. Thank you so much for sharing it, Bro.
ReplyDeleteThis film is extremely well done. Thank you so much for sharing it, Bro.
ReplyDelete