The Owl's Legacy
TV ShowTitle | L'Héritage de la chouette |
User score | 9.5 |
Release date | Jun 12, 1989 |
Release date of last episode | Jun 28, 1989 |
Genre | Documentary |
Production country | France |
Production companies | Attica Art Productions, FIT Production, La Sept Cinéma |
Series status | Ended |
Seasons count | 1 (List of episodes) |
Episodes count | 13 |
Run time | 26 min. |
THE OWL’S LEGACY is an intellectually agile, engaging, and sometimes biting look at ancient Greece, its influences on Western culture—and how many eras have reinterpreted the Greek legacy to reflect their own needs. Each of the 13 episodes is centered on a potent Greek word: from “democracy” and “philosophy” to “mythology” and “misogyny.” Marker convenes and films symposia—meals featuring wine and thoughtful conversation—in locales including Paris, Tokyo, Tbilisi, Berkeley, and an olive grove on Athens’ outskirts. Footage from these banquets is interspersed with archival materials and interviews (often featuring a stylized or distorted owl image looming in the background). Marker’s diverse group of informants includes composers, politicians, classicists, historians, scientists, writers, filmmakers, and actors. Together their contributions form a compelling (and sometimes contradictory) cultural and historical exploration for each theme.