Michael Cacoyannis · 1964 · mediterranean

Michael Cacoyannis's 1964 film of the Kazantzakis novel. A bookish young Englishman sails to Crete to reopen a lignite mine his father left him, and picks up a companion on the quayside at Piraeus - an ageing labourer with no plan, no money and total confidence. The mine fails spectacularly, which turns out to be the least important thing about the trip.

1. 1
   Piraeus

   Waiting out a storm on the quay at Piraeus for the boat to Crete, the reserved young writer Basil is approached by Alexis Zorba, who asks to be taken along as a cook, a miner, or anything else that might be required.

2. 2
   Chania

   They land in Crete and walk out to the village, where Basil is an object of general interest as the man with the mine and the money - and Zorba begins conducting the whole business, and the social life around it, on his own terms.

3. 3
   Stavros

   On the beach below Stavros the elaborate timber contraption built to bring the lignite down the hill collapses at the moment of launch, comprehensively and in front of everyone - and Zorba asks whether Basil can teach him to dance.