Watch Voyage to Cythera

Voyage to Cythera is a 1984 Greek drama film directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos and starring Manos Katrakis, Mairi Hronopoulou, and Dionysis Papagiannopoulos. The film tells the story of Spyros, an aged Greek communist exiled in the Soviet Union, who finally receives permission to return to Greece after being banished for 32 years. The film begins with Spyros (Katrakis) and his wife (Aliki Georgouli) leaving the Soviet Union and traveling to Greece. However, when they arrive, Spyros is not greeted with the hero's welcome he was expecting. Instead, he is met with hostility and suspicion from the government and former friends who are now in power.

Spyros' journey takes an unexpected turn when he is abandoned at a tiny island called Cythera by the captain of the boat he is traveling on. Despite this setback, Spyros decides to stay on the island and begins interacting with the residents there.

At first, the inhabitants of Cythera are wary of Spyros, but as he begins to tell them stories of his time in the Soviet Union and talk about his past, they start to warm up to him. Spyros is particularly drawn to a young boy named Spyridon (Konstantinos Tzoumas) who reminds him of his own son, who passed away as an infant.

As Spyros continues to integrate into the community on Cythera, he has a series of encounters with various characters, including a young couple who are in love, a local fisherman who is being forced to sell his boat, and a pair of musicians who play a traditional Greek instrument called a bouzouki.

Over the course of the film, it becomes clear that the residents of Cythera are struggling to hold onto their traditional way of life in the face of rapid modernization and the encroachment of tourism. Spyros finds himself caught up in their struggles, and begins to question his own beliefs and values in the process.

Despite the film's political undertones, Voyage to Cythera is ultimately a meditation on the passage of time and the human voice. The characters in the film are searching for a way to connect to their past, but they are also looking for ways to reconcile their past with their present, and to find hope for the future.

The film is shot in a slow and contemplative style, with plenty of long takes and beautiful cinematography. There is little dialogue, and much of the storytelling is conveyed through visual symbolism and metaphor.

Ultimately, Voyage to Cythera is a film about longing and nostalgia, and the ways in which we seek to connect with our past in order to understand ourselves in the present. It is a thoughtful and introspective work that rewards those who are patient and willing to engage with its questions and ideas.