Evagora's Vow (2001)

Evagoras is a poor villager living in Cyprus, just as Greece is about to become embroiled in WWII in 1940. He has made a vow to visit the shrine of St Andreas far away from his own village, if his wife gives birth to a son, after several girls have been borne to her. Once the baby son arrives, Evagoras begins his long trek accompanied by his faithful donkey. Determined to complete his holy vow, Evagoras presses on resolutely, although there are several people bent on preventing him reaching his goal and fate seemingly conspires against him. The film starts out extremely well and is bitterly and poignantly comedic, however, as it progresses it becomes rather repetitive and is overlong. Some heavy cutting would have improved it greatly. Georges Corraface is a saving grace, playing the role of the naive Evagoras wonderfully well and Valeria Golino looks wistfully winsome, although her motives are far from innocent...