With the army conquered and her city reduced to rubble, Hecuba (Katharine Hepburn), the widow of King Priam of Troy, is bedecked in her mourning garb and awaiting the decision from the Greek victors as to what will be the fate of not just herself, but of her daughter Cassandra (Geneviève Bujold); of Hector's widow Andromache (Vanessa Redgrave) and her young son, and also of the original source of their woes - Helen (Irene Papas) whose husband Menelaus (Patrick Magee) is scenting blood. Stylistically, this isn't so much an history as a collection of powerfully delivered monologues and though that did effect the continuity of the storytelling at times, it did serve to focus our attention on the respective characters. Hepburn's Hecuba serves as a sort of glue to hold things together, and she does that capably enough but it's Redgrave who has the meatier part as her survival, and that of her child, becomes the most tragic of the themes contained here. Though Bujold features more sparingly, her role as the slightly deranged priestess of what would appear to be an entirely indifferent Apollo works poignantly, and there is something quite affecting about the effort from Papas as she presents a characterisation somewhat different from the more traditional Hollywood style of beauty, ambition and even grief. On the glue front, Brian Blessed also tones down his usual exuberance with his almost sympathetic portrayal of Talthybius - the man charged with herding these women together and then announcing in whose tent they are to spend the remainder of their lives. In many ways this is about a post-war survivalism that could apply to anyone left grieving and/or uncertain as to their own future after conflict and though much more theatrically dramatised, could just as readily serve as a template for a more modern conversation amongst widows (or widowers) when faced with the consequences and the utter desolation of war. What I did struggle with was the setting. The ruins amidst which they await their fates seemed to me more like ancient cave dwellings than the remnants of a once great city, and unless the Greeks had procured dynamite for themselves, the degree of destruction didn't quite ring true. This is one of those films that showcases the skills of not just the acting talent but also of the writing and though bleak, is certainly worth a look.
