En Asie Mineure vers 1921, les populations grecques sont persécutées par les Turcs. Dans le petit village grec, Lykovrissi, qui vit en bonne intelligence avec les Turcs, le pope Grigoris prépare la reconstitution de la fête de la Passion. Le berger Manolios doit incarner le Christ alors que le rôle de Marie-Madeleine sera tenu par la belle veuve Katerina. Surviennent durant les préparatifs de la cérémonie, des rescapés d'un village saccagé par les Turcs. Les autorités qui craignent des représailles leur refusent hospitalité et nourriture. Le berger Manolios et Katerina, aidés par trois de leurs compagnons, leur portent secours. Mais le berger est poignardé par Panayotaros, qui devait tenir le rôle de Judas, et meurt dans les bras de Katerina, payant de sa vie son courage et son humanité. 

1921:  On Turkey's western fringes, the Greek minority is being persecuted by the Turkish majority during the birthing pains of the nation after its crushing defeat in the First World War.  In their attempt to cleanse the newborn country of what it considers to be troublesome minorities, whole villages are being uprooted, killed and/or expelled. In the small Greek village in this film, a passion play is put on each year.  The residents of this village get on well with the Turks and have been left in peace.  The leading citizens of the town, under the auspices of the Patriarch, choose those that will play the parts in the Passion. A stuttering shepherd is chosen to play Jesus. The town butcher (who wanted to be Jesus) is chosen as Judas. The town prostitute is chosen as Mary Magdalene. As the movie unfolds, the Passion Play becomes a reality. A group of villagers, uprooted by the war and impoverished, arrive at the village led by their priest. Fearing terrible retribution from the Turks, the wealthier citizens of the town want nothing to do with these people and manipulate a massacre. In the context of the post-WWI battles for the establishment of a sovereign Turkish nation, each of the characters in the Passion Play finds himself/herself mirroring the events of biblical times on a modern day stage of ethnic cleansing and intolerance.

DVD-R is in French with hard-encoded English subtitles.  Approx. 127 mins.