Medea

Photographed in brilliant color in Syria, Turkey and Italy, Medea presents Maria Callas in her first and only film. In Pasolini's controversial film conception, she is a creature from a ritualistic background, the barbaric magical world of her native Colchis. When she is brought by Jason and the Argonauts to Corinth and the Court of Creon, she finds herself in a strange materialistic world. Her struggle is the struggle between these two worlds, between myth and reason, nature and civilization - and this drives Medea to cause the death of Glauce (Creon's daughter) and to kill her own two sons by Jason. Ms. Callas' towering performance, combined with Pasolini's austere but eccentric style, make this Medea a true event in modern cinema, if not an entirely satisfying movie.

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