Original subtitles

(intense orchestral music)

- [Narrator] There he is.

He who once shone like a star

and is now a mere shadow of himself.

There he is, the majestic king who once ruled Thebes.

The mortal who defeated the Sphinx

with its inscrutable riddles.

Oedipus, the parricide,

the incestuous.

He who all of Greece revered for his wisdom

but who was nothing but an indecipherable enigma to himself.

(dramatic violin music)

Banished, doomed the exile, he wanders.

Only Antigone, his elder daughter, remains by his side.

Antigone.

She is both austere and sad.

She holds her head high,

impervious to insults that come their way.

They walk together,

the chaste girl guiding the blind man,

and to anyone who sees them,

he seems more like a ghost

who has returned from the underworld.

The high priestess of Delphi

had prophesied for Oedipus the cruelest of fates.

You will kill your father and sleep with your mother.

All of his life, he would become King of Thebes,

had tried to prove the oracle wrong.

But in the end, the truth was brought to light.

Oedipus had indeed, without knowing it,

murdered his father and then married his mother.

(intense orchestral music)

From this incestuous union, four children would be born.

Two sons, Eteocles and Polynices,

and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.

When this appalling truth was revealed to Jocasta,

his unfortunate mother who had since become his wife,

she hanged herself.

In his despair, Oedipus then seized the gold pins

that adorned his mother's dress

and gauged out his eyes.

He would never again see the day or the night

or his fellow human beings.

The throne of Thebes was now vacant.

Since Oedipus' sons, Eteocles and Polynices

were too young to rule,

it was Creon, their uncle, who served as regent.

Creon decided not to punish Oedipus

because he felt that he had already paid enough

for his crimes by depriving himself the light of day.

This decision outraged both Eteocles and Polynices,

the two adolescent boys who were as proud

as they were belligerent

were furious that their names had been disgraced.

They seized Oedipus and locked him up

in a prison in the palace.

Even worse,

they went on to pronounce their father's abdication

and claim the throne for themselves.

(dramatic music)

To their father's sorrow and shame

was thus added betrayal.

Oedipus warned his sons.

If they no longer honor their father,

if they defied fate and the gods

by humiliating the man who gave them life,

they would end up dividing their kingdom by the sword.

Eteocles and Polynices took no heed of their father's curse.

Instead, they went even further

and expelled him from Thebes.

Ever since that day, supported by his daughter,

and draped in his sorrow as if it were a shroud,

Oedipus had wandered the land.

As they made their way,

the girl could be seen holding up the old man

as if he were a hero.

She knew from a very young age

that one should never give in,

never yield to the blows of fate.

Finally, not far from Athens in their weariness,

they stopped at the entrance to a small town

called Colonus.

An oracle had once told Oedipus

that this was where he would find some rest.

They were offered shelter at last.

Oedipus was warm to the bone.

Antigone laid down by his side

and put her arms around him,

as if the father had suddenly become the child.

A year went by,

far from the tumult and the clamor

that reached their ears from Thebes.

Early one morning at the first light of dawn,

there came a knock of the door.

(door creaking)

It was Ismene, Antigone's sister.

She was very agitated.

In a rush of words,

she told them about the latest turn of events in Thebes.

Eteocles and Polynices had ascended to the throne,

but their triumph was marred by their father's warning.

Hadn't he, Oedipus, their father

predicted that their kingdom would be divided by the sword?

In order to prevent such a curse from coming true,

Eteocles came up with a plan.

They would share their rule.

As a way of avoiding any conflict,

each brother would reign for one year

and then they would switch.

Polynices agreed.

Eteocles, being the older of the two,

would be the first to sit on the throne

with the promise that he would step down

when his time was up.

Polynices respected their agreement

and he thought it would be better for him

to remain away from Thebes during his brother's reign.

He went to the nearby city of Argos,

which was under the rule of King Adrastus.

He married the king's daughter.

And thus, the ties between Thebes, the city of Dionysus

and Argos, the city of the great hero Perseus,

were officially reinforced.

When the first year was over,

Polynices returned to Thebes

to claim his right to the royal center.

Alas, power is like a drug that goes to the head.

Eteocles refused to honor their agreement.

He scoffed at their vow.

To save his skin, Polynices had no choice but to flee.

His brother's soldiers were already on their way

to arrest him and throw him in a dungeon.

Ismene took a short breath, her heart quickened,

and she tried to calm herself down

before she returned to her story.

Polynices galloped at full speed

back to the city of Argos.

Once there, we went straight to Adrastus

and appealed to him for help.

The king gave him an army led by seven valiant captains.

He set out for Thebes to reclaim his due.

(dramatic music)

These captains were known as the Seven Against Thebes.

At the head of these warriors,

Polynices vowed to destroy the walls of the city

and kill the brother who had betrayed him.

Ismene paused and then murmured,

"Unless our father Oedipus agrees to come back

"and offer his support to one of the two brothers,

"the one who he believes is most worthy to reign."

The blind man shook his head feebly.

No, he would not go.

Let his sons fulfill their own destiny.

Burdened by the weight of his terrible deeds,

filled with despair, Oedipus no longer felt

he had the strength or the moral authority

to intervene in human affairs.

Full of sorrow and remorse,

he had nothing more to live for.

Suddenly, an enormous chasm opened up,

and as Antigone and Ismene looked on in astonishment,

their poor father slowly disappeared

down to the land of the dead.

Zeus had decided to put an end to his suffering.

Ismene burst into tears.

Antigone remained impassive.

She took her sister by the hand.

It was time to go back to Thebes.

As Antigone approached the city,

a terrifying sight greeted her eyes.

A huge army was encamped outside its walls.

It was Polynices' army.

Seven chiefs were stationed

at each of the seven gates of the mighty city of Thebes.

They were surrounded by an ocean of glittering shield,

crested helmets and a forest of spheres.

Antigone rushed up to Polynices.

She tried to reason with him.

She begged him not to take up arms

against his brother.

Polynices refused.

He had been wronged, denied his rightful due.

Eteocles must pay and give back the throne.

Antigone then ran to the palace

where Eteocles had barricaded himself

and implored him not to fight.

Eteocles, too, refused.

It was out of the question the he, the eldest son,

would give up his throne.

(light music)

War between the two brothers was inevitable.

And Antigone was powerless to stop them.

She climbed up to the top of the highest wall in Thebes

and there, in a night of silence and fear,

in which every little sound made her heart stand still,

she waited for the world to go up in flames.

The sun was beginning to glow on the horizon.

Dawn was breaking over Thebes.

With a heavy heart, Antigone looked out upon a scene

that was like a promise of death.

(dramatic music)

The two armies hurled themselves at each other.

Their flamboyant crests and golden suits of armor

were soon engulfed in the fray.

Time and time again, Polynices and his troops

launched their assault on the city in vain.

The walls of Thebes were impregnable.

The hostilities, the shouting,

the fury of the battle went on for hours,

and still, there was no victor.

Then, as night was falling,

Polynices detached himself from the ranks of the attackers.

He offered to meet his brother in single combat.

Eteocles accepted.

They had to stop the fighting.

Like two wild beasts, the brothers rushed at each other.

They lept, they dodged, they smoked.

And then suddenly, Polynices fell to the ground.

The victor was Eteocles.

He turned towards his soldiers

and was lifting his arms up in triumph

when Polynices raised himself up

and with his last breath,

thrust his sword into his brother's back.

It was over.

The suns of Oedipus lay side by side in the dust.

The two brothers had slain each other.

(intense orchestral music)

Antigone could no longer hold back her tears.

She wept.

She wept for the terrible fate that afflicted her family.

Preparations had to be made for the funeral.

Creon came forward.

It was he who was, once again,

sitting on the throne of Thebes.

Creon wanted to believe in a new era,

in a new world,

and he intended to found this new world

on principles that would be inviolable.

He was determined to do everything he could

to ensure that such a tragedy

would never happen again.

To begin with, he decided to honor the hero

who died defending the city of Thebes, Eteocles.

He had Eteocles buried with great pomp and ceremony.

Secondly, he ordered Polynices' body

to be left out on the battlefield.

Let him be fed to the dogs.

That way, everyone would know the price to be paid

for bearing arms against the city.

Creon was inflicting on Polynices

what the Greeks considered to be the most

dreadful punishment of all.

Denying someone of the right to a proper burial,

depriving them of the offerings and rights

that are due to the dead

was to do that person's soul to wander forever

without rest in the underworld.

For Creon, this was not a lighthearted decision.

He had nothing against his nephew, Polynices.

But Polynices was the one who had dared

to attack their home city

and this was something that could not be permitted.

Creon's law was clear.

Anyone who threatened Thebes,

anyone who went against what he called

the interests of the State,

would meet with the same fate as Polynices.

Antigone was outraged.

She threw herself at Creon's feet.

She begged him to reconsider his decision.

She knew that Eteocles was a usurper,

but she also knew that he had defended his city.

She knew that Polynices should not have taken up arms

against his own city, not even to claim

what was, indeed, his right.

But to doom a man to hell

was something that she could not accept.

No human being had the power to make such a decision.

Only the gods.

Everyone was equal in the face of death

and honoring the dead, regardless of their crimes,

with the proper funeral rights was a sacred duty,

a duty to the gods.

Creon refused to listen.

He did not want anymore unrest.

If his people and his city were to survive,

he had no choice but to strike fear into their minds.

Polynices would be a symbol.

Antigone stood up.

She looked Creon in the eye, and she said, "No.

"No, I cannot accepted that law.

"It is not Zeus' law, it is Creon's law.

"The lawn of a man, not the law of a god."

As a man and as king, it is in Creon's power

to govern the citizens of his city

as he wishes when they're alive,

but he has no authority to dispose of their souls

when they are dead.

There is a law that is higher than any human law.

It is an unwritten law.

While the gods may have allowed Polynices to be defeated,

they did not want his soul to be doomed

to wander forever.

Antigone immediately went to see her sister.

She asked Ismene to help her.

In secret, under the cover of night,

they would slip outside the walls of Thebes.

They would look for Polynices' body

and then give him the funeral rights

so that he would not have to wander eternally

among the shades.

But Ismene refused.

She was terrified.

After all, they were women

and therefore subject to the laws imposed by men.

Ismene reminded Antigone of the grim fate

that awaited her if she were to violate this law.

Antigone knew she would have to do it on her own.

Darkness had settled over the plain.

The night was silent.

Antigone searched for Polynices' body

by the light of the stars.

Then she saw him at the foot of a tree,

lying on his back as if he had been quartered.

She began very quietly to sing a song of mourning.

(Antigone humming)

Then after she had performed all of the sacred rituals,

she covered his body with dirt.

Antigone had done her duty.

She had barely finished when the guards arrived.

They grabbed her and took her straight to the palace.

Antigone did not resist.

She had acted with full knowledge of the consequences

and she knew what awaited her.

The young woman stood before Creon.

His gaze was severe, but she held her head up.

Creon was deeply troubled.

He wished he had never decreed his new law.

But since he had declared that the worst punishment of all

would be meted out to anyone who dared

to go against this law, Antigone must die.

Not one of the guards dared to lay a hand on her.

They were all impressed by her resolve.

It was she who walked before them.

The citizens of Thebes looked on in dismay

as Antigone made her way through the city

to the steps of the tomb.

It was the tomb of the Labdacids family, her family.

Without any show of emotion, she entered the vault.

At first, the guards hesitated.

Then they rolled the stone up against the entrance.

The tomb was sealed.

There was nothing left for Antigone

but to await the release of death.

Thus did Antigone die, immured, alive,

for obeying the principle that is higher than any law.

Morality.

For the first time ever,

someone had the courage to stand up to absolute power.

Antigone, a pioneering figure of revolt,

of disobedience in the name of conscience,

paid for her incredible audacity with her life.

Nothing would be the same on Earth anymore.

The laws of the gods as well as the laws of the State

could now be opposed by the ethics of personal conscience.

It was the birth of individual freedom.

The age of myth would slowly come to an end.

The age of history could now begin.

(intense orchestral music)