Without doubt one of the most beautiful and painful films I have ever seen. For some time into the film I didn't understand why the director decided to keep so much distance to the main characters. And then suddenly it dawned on me: These are people caught up in a much larger historical picture  out of their control  and the total historical painting is more important than all the separate details together. However, in the second half of the movie, Angelopoulos moves closer on the main characters, and the movie takes a much firmer emotional grip of your heart. This is a movie about extreme human pain in troubled times  brought on us by human pride and stupidity  and it takes some time and effort to get through this epic. But if you hang in there, it's an experience I think many of us will never forget. The final sequence is justwell, what can I say?