Movies that remind you of Greek tragedies.

[dennilfloss]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy

a form of drama defined by Aristotle characterized by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune

Every time I watch Jean De Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources, I get struck by this aspect of the story, particularly when the blind lady reveals an old secret to Cesar Soubeyran near the end of MDS. I won't say more so as to not spoil it for those who have not seen those two great movies.

Another such movie/story that comes to mind is Wuthering Heights. Apocalypse now also gives me some feeling of this sort. There's also Excalibur. Raise The Red Lantern too.

So which movies strike you as having at least some aspect of ancient Greek tragedies?

 

[irishScott]

Gladiator

Saving Private Ryan

Boromir in LOTR. He was the BAMF of Gondor with the best of intentions, then he got corrupted by the ring and killed by Orcs.

 

[dennilfloss]

There's also King Kong, who was the master of his domain but made the mistake of falling for the beauty.

 

[Jeff7]

Snakes on a Plane. I finally watched it.
In Greek tragedies, didn't everyone die? Or was that Shakespeare?

Don't know, but by the end of that movie, I was hoping for the sweet relief of death by snakebite. I watched it courtesy of my 3 months of free HBO (just got cable hooked up in August), and I still want my money back.

 

[bigrash]

first movie when I read the title was Gladiator

 

[Squisher]

The Departed

 

[HN]

Godfather trilogy as a whole

 

[SKORPI0]

Originally posted by: HN
Godfather trilogy as a whole

IIRC, they were Sicilian not Greeks.

 

[alrocky]

300

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: alrocky
300

That really happened, pretty much just like the movie shows

 

[TheVrolok]

I think you could claim that many, many, many movies fit the guidelines for Greek tragedy; tho, I have to say that watching Chronicles of Riddick had me thinking Greek Trajedy the whole time.. not necessarily because of plot alone, but because of the set design/style.

 

[HN]

Originally posted by: SKORPI0

Originally posted by: HN
Godfather trilogy as a whole

IIRC, they were Sicilian not Greeks.

uh...none of the movies listed so far involve Greeks (up until 300 was listed).

 

[boomerang]

Mystic River

 

[Steve]

Troy

 

[StevenYoo]

would "O Brother Where Art Thou" count?

 

[alrocky]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: alrocky
300

That really happened, pretty much just like the movie shows

Right, Superman capes and NASA diapers.

 

[Fritzo]

The title of this thread sounds like a bad Jeopardy category