Galileo

In the 1970s the American Film Theater sponsored an incredible series of films, gathering prestige directors and actors for modestly-budgeted play adaptations. With Galileo (1975), Joseph Losey assembles a galaxy of stellar actors to bring Bertolt Brecht's The Life of Galileo to the screen.

Galileo Galilei (Topol) is a mathematics professor in 17th Century Venice, chafing at his meager salary. He builds an improved telescope, which his peers see only for its financial and military value. Galileo takes to astronomy, where he confirms Copernicus's theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. The Catholic Church is quick to respond, fearing Galileo's discovery will undermine their authority.

Galileo is much more challenging play than its spiritual successors, A Man for All Seasons and The Crucible. Galileo isn't heroic but a boorish man with ordinary passions. Loving creature comforts and lacking creativity, he steals his telescope idea from a pupil and happily sells it to the highest bidder. Yet Galileo's simple observations threaten centuries of Church orthodoxy, forcing a disproportionate response. It's not surprising that Galileo fails to live up to the occasion: like ordinary men, he prefers "selling out" to martyrdom. It's a very Marxist play, the individual less important than what ideology.

Before turning to films, Joseph Losey directed a 1947 stage run of Brecht's play. He maintains Brecht's "epic theater" devices, breaking the fourth wall with a variety of devices: a children's chorus providing commentary, characters playing with masks, even shots of a sound stage. An extended musical sequence is a clever way of conveying Galileo's working class appeal: if the Church is wrong, then what about the establishment is right? Most effective, he stages Galileo's inquisition against a back lit scrim, with his pupils discussing the outcome. It's one of Losey's last artistic successes, coming amidst turkeys like Boom! and The Assassination of Trotsky.

Topol's exuberant performance has been oft-criticized but perfectly fits Brecht's everyman antihero. He's backed by a phenomenal roster of character actors: Tom Conti, Michael Gough and John McEnery as Galileo's friends; Michael Lonsdale, Edward Fox and Patrick Macgee as unscrupulous church officials; Colin Blakely as a greedy politician. John Gielgud and Margaret Leighton contribute brief cameos.

Galileo comes off surprisingly well on film, theatrical devices and all. A challenging play of ideas, its essential drama and pathetic anti-heroism comes through.