Landscape in the mist is a 1988 film directed by Theo Angelopoulos. This film tells the journey of two children in search of their father. They are told that their father lives in Germany. On Their journey ,they encounter many odd incidents and people before reaching to Germany.
The two most significant encounters stand-out. They meet a brutish truck driver who rapes the girl . The scene was quite disturbing. When the girl is raped in the back of a truck, the camera slowly moves on the tarp beclouding the incident, ending in a close-up of her hand stained with blood from her violated hymen. They meet a friendly gay-biker named Orestes and the girl gets attracted towards him.
Much like the Theo's previous works, this is also a film that relies heavily on the delicate use of color. They reflect pain,happiness and disappointment. Yet this is not a film of visual contrasts. It very much feels as something Andrei Tarkovsky would direct. This is gloomy,misty and almost mesmeric at-times. On their journey, they learn the realities of life-cruelty, violence and the struggle for survival. This cinema is filled with symbolism. In a particular scene, joy and sorrow are revealed simultaneously as a horse dies before their eyes, even as a marriage is cheerfully celebrated nearby.
To conclude, Angelopoulos portrays a journey of two children whose introduction to the real world has been nothing but a misguided jump into the unknown and people do usually fear what they do not understand. The film is filled with unforgettable instances that are simultaneously real and hallucinatory, seeping into the surreal. This is not my favourite Angelopoulos but worth a watch.
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