“Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble”
Picture two men dancing wantonly on a beach, one an old timer who maintains a wonderful zest for life and the other an introverted bottled up young man who does not know of a world beyond books. The story of their relationship is a wonderful depiction of the unshackling of a bound life, to experience the vagaries of the world and in the end, to retain the ability to laugh about it.
Basil is a half-Greek half-English writer who is returning to Crete to restart a lignite mine that was his father’s and in the process cure his writer’s block. En route, he encounters a brash, loud yet full of life old man named Alexis Zorba who offers to work for him to get his mine started. As they make the mine in the Cretan village their home base, Zorba tries to infuse fresh spirit into the young man and nudges him to partake in life, instead of watching it go by. The story follows their journey as they try to restart the mine and in the process go through experiences in the village that teach them something about life and love, gaining and losing, trying and failing; in short, about living.
Based on Nikos Kazantzakis’ book of the same name, the film by Michael Cacoyannis is largely philosophical in nature, with Zorba observing his ‘boss’ and at times laughing at him, at times preaching to him on how to live life. The plot uses the mine as the backdrop but uses it largely to examine the behavior of the principal characters and certain troubled characters in the village namely a French ‘Madame’ Hortense who has been loved by many a man, but is seeking the real thing and a young widow who is isolated from the rest of the village for not remarrying and allegedly luring a young man while spurning him at the same time. Zorba and Basil find themselves attracted to these women, but need to deal with tragic reality of their lives in order to take things forward.
Anthony Quinn as Zorba revels in the role of his lifetime. Such roles tend to slip into the realm of excess, but he manages to blend in an emotional and sensitive side to make his character complete. Alan Bates as Basil is believable as the introverted young man but is clearly overshadowed by Quinn. Lila Kedrova delivers a wonderful performance as the tragic Madame Hortense. The pain in her eyes, as she recounts her courtship with the men who gave her their bodies but not their hearts is endearing. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role.
The film leaves you with several heart rending moments that showcase both the frailty that plagues humans and the indomitable spirit that keeps them going. There comes a time in every man’s life when he is set free. For Basil, Zorba was his liberator.