Echoes of the Past (2021) makes clear from the outset it won’t be avoiding difficult subject matter, opening on a scene of a hospital resuscitation. The title itself hints as much, ‘Echoes of the Past’ conjures a shortlist of the film’s themes: history, memories, and death.
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The film’s topic is equally grim: the German government is once more making every effort to avoid having to pay reparations for crimes against humanity in its past – this time in Greece. The legal team responsible for this task makes clear the lengths to which it will go, and suggest attempting to blame everyone from Greek rebels to British Intelligence agents for the massacres in question.
Sydow’s last role
Max Von Sydow requires no introduction and is likely one of the greatest actors of the last century, with a career no less stellar.
For those somehow unacquainted with his 70 years of work, see The Seventh Seal (1957) and/or The Flight of the Eagle (1982) as a beginner’s course.
This being his final film before his regrettable passing away will no doubt encourage many to seek out his earlier works, and I can assure you his performance here was as outstanding as any.
Sydow plays the last remaining survivor of a massacre by German forces during World War II, and flashbacks to Nikolas Andreou’s (Sydow) past show us the perspective of him as a young boy (played by Maximos Livieratos), as German forces replace Italians in occupied Greece. It is with some dread, then, that we view scenes which we know only he is guaranteed to survive.
Protagonist or Antagonist?
Sydow’s counter, Astrid Roos, plays the modern-day lawyer charged with trying to absolve the German government of the Massacre of Kalavytra. Until now she has largely acted in French cinema with few works breaking out of the continent.
To judge her performance alongside that of Sydow in his final role may be unfair, rather like taking scientific measurements within inches of the event horizon of a black hole. Suffice to say I was impressed when her performance did not merely fade into the background in the shadow of Sydow who, by almost any measure, must command the centre stage here.
Confined to the role of a war-crime-denying legal aide, visiting expensive restaurants and enjoying a comfortable life, it is difficult to empathise with her character to say the least.
She finds Sydow, a dying cancer victim, as the last survivor who may be able to provide absolving testimony. He is a living echo of the past – one refusing to take medication. Once the sheer horrors he witnessed become apparent however, such a disregard for death becomes quite understandable.
Given Roos’ role, by definition attempting to cover up war crimes through her investigation, there is a rather uncomfortable (though not unwarranted) comparison made through flashbacks to SS officers doing precisely that as those very events were perpetrated.
Her ‘hunting down’ the ‘last survivor’ seems an intentional analogy, especially as she employs quite underhanded means to do so. This parallel is made quite blatant when, in one transition, she lights a cigarette only for the lead SS officer to do precisely the same a moment later, mirrored in frame.
Well structured and uncompromising visuals
Further, there is a subtle difference between footage from flashbacks and the present. Either the present is slightly saturated, or the past vice versa. I would be interested to know if in fact different equipment was used to film those scenes to indicate the distance between present and memory.
The film, as stated, does not shy away from the brutality of its subject matter. The scenes just prior to the massacre are particularly distressing, with families being separated for the last time. However, in another nod to the impenetrability of trauma, it is only when Sydow himself is relating his memories to Roos that the massacre itself is portrayed.
Further, we hang on long unbroken shots of the past, and rarely cut back to the comfortable present. Indeed, after the massacre, where most films would simply cut to Sydow telling us of the aftermath, we see it for ourselves. Families stumble through burning streets, and stumble around a hillside for hours trying to identify the dead by candlelight alongside dozens of others.
Trauma as a storytelling mechanism
Sydow, intentionally silent until he is able to give his testimony late in the film, powerfully delivers lines which perfectly encompass the message. Reparations are not about money or forgetting what happened. They are an acknowledgement of what happened, and a way to keep said memories alive when they are all that remain.
Roos eventually questions her role in covering up her government’s crime, visiting memorials and seeing the impact on the people rather than her government’s wealth.
She sees the faces of hundreds of people staring back at her, as she so often has in her line of work, but realises at last they are not simply staring, but watching. As a final film for Sydow to act in, I struggle to imagine a more powerful message for his career to end on.
Sydow’s flawless final performance
Overall, a scant few scenes felt clunky, where line delivery was a bit wooden, and I did find myself asking if this was really the best take they had. Obviously, none of these included Sydow, who I scarcely need to suggest in his final role gives, as ever, an outstanding performance.
There were also a few instances of very obvious (from the differing audio quality alone) single-line voice overs, which in context added nothing and seemed unnecessary additions.
Echoes of the Past makes significant effort to capitalise on what I imagine was a necessarily limited appearance by its main star, and he is well supported by the other cast.
The film’s style pursues simple beauty, with long shots of quite magnificent vistas, set against the backdrop of such horrendous crimes. These are mirrored by mechanical and matter-of-fact methodology for those scenes which do not depict the tragedy itself.
The audio mixing, aside from the noted exceptions, was functional, with occasionally impressive tracks which may be intended to emphasise those specific scenes.
Overall, a thoroughly impressive work which manages to be a testament to both the subject matter and the star now lost to us.
Credits
Editor & Artwork: Richard Williams
Images courtesy of Reel 2 Reel Films
Writer and editor from the north of Scotland, lifelong movie enthusiast. Always looking for an unseen classic, watching something new every day.
I own this thing. Being creative makes me tick. Film lover. Coffee hater. Website manager, headline and copywriter, video editor, graphic/motion designer, editor, presenter...
