I’m no film buff. Most of the time I’m hostile to the cinema – its conformity, its platitudes. However years ago I was entranced by the impressionistic, sprawling creations of Theo Angelopoulos, who died tragically in a traffic accident the other day. To get an idea, be patient though the opening credits and watch the opening minutes of his breakthrough film, The Travelling Players [1975] – a series of images Van Gogh would have given his other ear to paint.

As for what’s this has got do with youth work, I can only offer a personal view. The films of Angelopoulos are all concerned with life as unfinished business, with contradiction and doubt. We can have our best guess, but we remain uncertain about its outcome. With this in mind we can but hope to make our best contribution to a more just, equal and democratic society. To my mind doing youth work, desiring that young people might be more aware, critical citizens is haunted by the same uncertainty. We can never be sure of its outcome, which makes it all the more worth doing.

More about the wonderful Angelopoulos below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/jan/25/theo-angelopoulos-chronicler-modern-greece