Feb
17
“Greece: Secrets of the Past,” which makes its world premiere Saturday at Cincinnati Museum Center and other locations, is an enriching odyssey of the mind.
An exploration of the past that can inform us today, it’s all wrapped up in breathtaking special effects and spectacular vistas of the Greek islands.
Narrated by actress Nia Vardalos (”My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), the latest Omnimax production is part archaeological mystery pursuit, part history lesson, largely chronicled through the efforts of Greek archaeologist Dr. Christos Doumas and his fellow scientist, volcanist Dr. George Vougiokalakis.
“In many ways we are all sons and daughters of ancient Greece,” Vardalos tells viewers at the beginning of the film, drawing them into the dawn of Western Civilization in the formation of democracy in Greece 500 years before the birth of Jesus.
The film then switches gears to Athens nearly 1,000 years later, during the Classical or Golden Age of Greece. Proclaimed “the first hub of the information age,” the Athens of that time has plenty of written texts from which to extract knowledge of an era that provided major transformations in politics, sculpture, drama and philosophy.
The film touches on those transformations while focusing on the crowning architectural glory of that Golden Age - the Parthenon in Athens, which was constructed as a temple to the goddess Athena. Today’s ruins are rejuvenated through computer graphics that even recreate the 42-foot golden sculpture of Athena, which was the “crown jewel” of the monumental structure.
Amidst those scenes of ruins, the film becomes part cautionary tale: “Athens overextended her armies… left too poor and weak to keep her grasp on power. Her hubris, her arrogance was her downfall.”
However, the narration ends on an upbeat note. “Centuries later those fragments still enrich our life… from philosophy and art to Olympic spirit, no other civilization has so profoundly shaped who we are and how we live.”
Ultimately, the 45-minute film has only time to provide glimpses into a fascinating past; there’s a Web site, www.greecefilm.com, that offers much background to the film and the history therein.
And don’t miss the closing credits for two amusing scenes where live models are used to recreate the human pillars of a temple and a military scene of riders on horseback.
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