Mikis Theodorakis (1925 – 2021) as a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and Serpico (1973). He composed the “Mauthausen Trilogy” (or “The Ballad of Mauthausen”) which has been described as the “most beautiful musical work ever written about the Holocaust”. Although a peacefull family man himself, Theodorakis led a turbulent and adventurous life through imprisonment, exile, a World War and a a ministerial term!
This documentary is a colaboration between the History Channel and NOVA, a Greek digital satellite pay-TV platform, as part of the tv programme “Modern Greeks”. It is dierected by Demetres Anagnostopoulos.
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Original Title: Σύγχρονοι Έλληνες: Μίκης Θεοδωράκης
IMDb rate: 7,0/10
Things you didn’t know about Mikis Theodorakis:
1. Theodorakis’ fascination with music began in early childhood; he taught himself to write his first songs without access to musical instruments. In Pyrgos and Patras he took his first music lessons, and in Tripolis, Peloponnese, he formed a choir and gave his first concert at the age of seventeen.
2. Theodorakis was was associated with the left because of his long-standing ties to the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In December of 1944, he led a troop in the “December events” (or “Dekemvriana”) alongside the guerilla forces who attempted to impose a communist dictatorship in Greece. The attempt was defeated by the joined forces of the Greek Army, the Cities Police and British army forces.
During the Greek Civil War (1945 – 1949) he was arrested, sent into exile on the island of Icaria and then deported to the island of Makronisos.
Nonetheless, he confessed that he always felt a hostility comming from the Party’s leadership towards him.
Theodorakis composed hyms for the Socialist Movement in Venezuela, for the French Socialist Party, as well for the the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games of Barcelona.
3. Aside for his left-wing views, Mikis Theodorakis was also a fiery patriot. In fact, he had doubts about participating in the “December Events”, but eventually he couldn’t refused orders from the (Communist) Party. He is reported to oppose General Tito himself (the infamous Yugoslavian Dictator) when the latter asked him to score an anti-Greek film “as a fellow Communist”.
On 4 February 2018, Theodorakis gave a speech attended by approximately 1,5 million people in the center of Athens, criticising the left-wing greek government for deciding to grant the macedonian identity to the state FYROM (now North Macedonia). He described the goverment’s actions to violently opress the demonstrations as “left-wing fascism”. After that, he was renounced by many left- wing politicians.
He was also a Christian, member of the Orthodox Church of Greece.
4. He wrote the musical score for many popular movies, such as “Zorba the Greek” (starring Anthony Quinn), “Serpico” (starring Al Pacino), ” Ill Met by Moonlight” (starring Dick Bogarde) and “Trojan Women” (starring Katharine Hepburn”.
5. Theodorakis has written more than 1,000 songs and song-cycles, whose melodies have become part of the heritage of Greek music.
6. On 21st April 1967 a fascist junta (the Regime of the Colonels) took power in putsch. Theodorakis went underground and founded the Patriotic Front. The Colonels published Army decree No 13, which banned playing, and even listening to his music. Theodorakis himself was arrested on 21 August 1967 and jailed for five months before his release. He then left to France, and became a key voice against the 1967–1974 junta.
7. Throughout his career he has delved into politics. He was an MP for the KKE from 1981 to 1990. Nevertheless, in 1989 he ran as an independent candidate within the centre-right New Democracy party.
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