The Four Seasons of the Law

This droll leisurely parable shows how realist cinema and mythological storytelling can produce intriguing art when combined with the director's restraint and gnomic professionalism. Set on the island of Chios in 1960, the tale is simple and cyclic: four 'Field Guards' are employed in a village, in the island's south, that has a fearsome reputation for awkwardness, superstitiousness and pagan magic. At once a celebration of the idiosyncracy of pre-industrial community, a paean to nature (ramified by the judicious musical accompaniment of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons') and a deadpan comedy, this unclassifiable film is a compulsive, surprising and slowly rewarding delight.