Pylade

Pasolini's Pylade begins where Aeschylus' The Eumenides ends. Like a brief summary of the previous episodes, the Chorus, the people of Argos, await the return of Orestes, who normally has to confess his crime to the Gods and make amends to regain his throne. But the returning Orestes is not the one we expected. For the first time in history, those who have absolved him are men, not gods. It was the citizens of Athens who, to his amazed eyes, took charge of their destiny, judged one of their own, enacted their own laws, rendered their own judgment; all under the tender gaze of Athena, goddess of Reason.