Tuesday 15 March 2011

Apo tin akri tis polis - From the edge of the city

1998 by Constantine Giannaris

Many Greeks lived in the Southern Soviet Union and at the end of the USSR most of them returned back to Greece. This immigration was allright for the parents who spoke Greek. But the youngsters spoke a mix of Greek and Russian and they really had some identity crisis. They tried menial jobs. They offered themselves to men seeking boys for petty money and in turn spend this money on prostitutes. Drugs were there too. This movie looks at one such teenager, Sasha, who tries to make money for himself with one lady, a Russian girl whose all aim is to earn a Greek identity by getting involved with some Greek, who was already been sold by another guy. They are chased out and Sasha ends up killing the guy who sold his lady and behind the bars.

The movie unfolds as Sasha answers the interrogator.

The movie looks at a very serious issue, the marginalisation of the immigrant community in Greece, whose young boys are being abused and they too do their part in perpetrating abuse on others and finally ends up as criminals.

This movie could be for Greece, what the 'City of God' was for Brazil or 'Le Clan' for France. However it is not as classy as the others. This was my first Greek movie. I am also afraid, may be I haven't really understood some points here and there as Greek culture is quite new for me.

Whatever, I have to say that some of the boys in this movie had excellent physique. Most boys have been selected from the street itself, like in Salaam Bombay.