Rembetiko

1983 by Costas Ferris - Greek movie

I have always wondered about the striking similarity in the music of the gypsies from Spain and Rajasthani folk. Just like twins almost. Now watching Rembetiko, the similarities of the music score in this movie with Indian music is really incredible.

Rembetiko are known as the music or songs of the outclass. After the Smyrna disaster (war with Turkey) a large group of Greek refugees were confined to living a terrible life in Greece, in the lowest order of the society. Rembetiko reached its peak during this period after the 20's. The movie pans the life of a Rembetiko singer Marika, between 1919 to the 60's and through her let us have a close look at the music and its artists. 

Greece went through lots of political instability during these years and Rembetiko attained its peak during this period too. May be as the only solace for the outclass people who suffered all along. It concentrates on one of the famous singers of this period, Marika, and follows her from her very early days, as a little girl, till her tragic death. Through Marika, we definitely get to know a lot about Rembetiko.

The story of Marika alone is dramatic and add to it the element of music, this turns out nearly like a master piece. There are so many touching moments involving the life of Marika, as both a child and adult, and all this is captured nicely in a subtle way. Her personal life is terrible, but she does attain popularity as a great singer and unlike another predecessor, her funeral attains lot of attention, with many performing for her. That was a beautiful scene.

I found the music of this movie incredibly brilliant. It is so beautiful to the ear and the soul and it makes it also good for the eyes because of the scenes. Some of the characters who are performing looks like as if they have just walked out of Guru dutt movies. I would love to have the music cd of this one. And as mentioned, the similarity of the same with Indian music, both in classical and folk ways, is so surprising. I do not know how this happened. I do not know if the music score is really based on the original Rembetiko style and hopefully it is. If yes, then this is incredible.

Kynodontas - Dogtooth

2009 by Giorgos Lanthimos - Greek movie

When somebody told me that Greek movies are on a much superior level to general cinema, I was not sure. Couple of movies later, I am quite surprised. At least in my country, when people discuss movies, seriously, nobody seems to talk about Greek movies. I have only seen a few now, but from what I have, its incredible. They are not the entertainment kind. (Am very curious as to how these movies fare in their box office though) But they are quite different and definitely will make the viewer think and wonder about what is happening on the screen.

Three children are bought up by the parents in a confined territory of their home. 

It is as simple as that, but this is a kind of shocking movie. When I read the synopsis, I too made the same mistake, thought it must be children. Only when the movie begin do we realise these children are actually past their teens. We do not know their exact age, but they are definitely around the twenties. And to think that, they have not seen the outside world is unbelievable, strange and scary.

The parents are able to give them different meanings to words, can trick them to fight for a toy plane, as if its the original plane which has fallen down from the skies. Everything about this movie  plot, is strange and unbelievable. But the script and the director has done a brilliant job that it make us curious about these people and will make us live with them. It is like we are watching some alien family performing their drama in a home with high walls. Nothing happening inside will never occur in an ordinary family, but still we are deeply engaged in this family. It is shocking, it is disturbing and thought provoking and even explicit.

I am not saying this movie deeply moved me or anything like that, but I will always say that this is kind of thought, film makers need to have so that cinema as an art form will prosper and inspire more people. I cannot cover my excitement when I say, the man behind this movie owns a truly brilliant and extra ordinary mind of thought.

I do not love it, I do not hate it, but it is definitely, may be, the most different cinematic experience. I hope I can say that. 

Topio Stin Omichli - Landscape in the Mist

1988 by Theo Angelopoulos - Greek movie

The UEFA super cup between Barca and FC Porto was to start at 0015 hrs, so I really wanted the movie to finish well before. But, but but.. I had picked up an acclaimed master piece movie, a real art house production from a maestro, and there were moments when I really felt, I might have to stop the movie some where to not miss my Football show. But there were also moments when I even felt, whatever happens with Barca, I am not going to break this movie, for any football. There it is, its pace is quite slow like in most art house movies, but it is quite a bewitching cinema, cinema at its artistic best.

Two children, a very young boy and an adolescent girl, are told by their mother that their father is in Germany. They elope their home, north wards to the Greek border, to Germany to meet their father. 

This is master piece of a road movie, with two children as protagonists. We are told quite early that there is no such father, but the desire of the children to meet him takes us through a stunning journey. They travel by train, treks, bus, bike and even walking through never ending roads, coming across various things in life, the good, the bad and the ugly.

I would call it as  surrealism at its best some times, with some incredibly brilliant stunning images. Towards the first half there are some scenes and frames with brilliant juxtaposition of contrasting senses or matters, which was brilliant. And at other times, it is reality at its best. There is a terribly painful and touching scene with a trek driver, which was unbelievable. It was like somebody just killed someone very dear to you, right in front of your eyes. We feel terribly sorry for these children but we continue travelling with them.

And the Cinematography, this is classic brilliance. There are so many frames which looks like, they have been just shot as told by Ansel Adams or Cartier Bresson or such great masters of Photography. Absolutely brilliant and Classic, confirming to text book rules of photography. And there is brilliant music too.

However, as I always feel when I watch great master piece's from art house maestros, it does have all those moments or situations which you would expect only from these kind of great artistic works. At least in few scenes I was thinking, isn't this kind of pretentious, like I feel often with art house movies.

- a lack of reality in the plot when two children can travel like this day and night, with not even one character asking  them why or what or how?

- characters who doesn't want to talk at all. Except a young man, every body who is coming across this children seems to, like to keep mum and understand everything, all  are intelligent - even the very young boy seems to understand certain moments, the feelings between the young man and the older girl, which I wonder how he can at all?

- typical situations when you, I mean me, dont understand what it is, why, for what?, like the lady saying something, sitting on a bench, outside the police officers room, repeating it.

In spite of all the above , the movie is soooooo captivating, definitely speaks volumes about this movie. In spite of its slow pace, it can keep us really engaged worried and wondering about these children.

Anybody who is interested in Photography, I strongly advise, must watch this movie. Even if this movie is not your kind of movie, you need to complete watching it. And dont forget, it was shot in film, without the help of the digital screens from which you can immediately see what you just shot and improve it if needed. This comes from those good old days, when the man behind the camera needed to be intelligent enough to understand everything. Even otherways, this is a classic example of classic photography. 

Zorba the Greek

1964 by Michael Cacoyannis

Basil is a half English - half Greek writer, an uptight English man, on his way to Crete. He meets Zorba, a typical peasant to whom he says he wants to take care of an unused mine in his father's land. Zorba is confident of doing anything that is possible with his hands and legs and has some experience with mines too. He joins Basil on his way to Crete. They are welcome by the villagers and they spend their night at a hotel owned by a French war widow Madame Hortense. With his charming and kind nature Zorba gets  into a relationship with her soon. They also come across another young war widow who seems to be the centre of attraction of the whole village and because of her reluctance to entertain any man, she is looked at with both desire and contempt at the same time. A young man is really after her, but she doesnt respond to him at all. They also start working on their mine. There are some obstacles, like the availability of good wood, which is actually available high up on the mountain and brining it down to the mine region is quite a job. Zorba seems to have some vague plans for this. Zorba push Basil to go for the young widow who seems to have a liking for him, but Basil is too uptight to make any such moves. Zorba has to go to the nearby town to buy some materials for their project. He enjoys his time during these days too. Madame Hortense is very sad so Basil nearly convinces her that Zorba will come back to her and marry her. When Zorba is back he is not happy about what Basil promised to Hortense. Basil, finally took some courage and went to the young widow in a night. The young man who was desperate for the widow kills himself knowing about this. The village is so angry with the young widow and inspite of the efforts of Zorba and Basil, kills her. Madame Hortense also gets really sick and she dies and the villagers steal all her belongings. Zorba's plans for moving the forest wood to the mine is ready but it doesnt stand. Luckily there is no mis haps but the villagers flee the mine site. Basil is so disappointed and Zorba teaches him how to make his special dance. Zorba has changed the uptight British man to live and enjoy life and take the failures in its stride.

This movie, based on a novel, I would say is all about life. Zorba is a beautiful character who believes life is there to enjoy and one should never take any hesitation in enjoying anything that come across. Zorba is charming, clever, kind, adorable, strong and has a great flair for dancing too. He is excellent in making friends with anybody, even more so with women who will instantly fall for his sweet and kind demeanor. Zorba tells Basil, if a woman sleeps alone, that is the mistake of the men around. Zorba is a great character and it is brilliantly played by Anthony Quinn. What a performance from this amazing character. His enthusiasm is so much that it can spill across the screen to us viewers. Brilliant. Young Alan Bates as Basil has well under performed his role, which actually even increases the contrast between these two characters.

From the moment Zorba meets Basil, until they go into a dance, they both take us through many beautiful moments in this film. Madame Hortense is also a very interesting character, living on the thoughts of her past partners.

I have heard a lot about Crete and have a friend who actually owns a house there. They are supposed to be great people. However in this movie the villagers are quite horrible. The way they treat the young widow and kills her, was horrible. And the whole story continues as if nothing happened was quite beyond my sensibilities . The same when madame Hortense is sick. The old woman sneaking in, waiting for her death, so that they can take her belongings, was beautifully shot, but that picturises the Cretans in a very bad way and I cannot understand that.

Watch this movie for a brilliant performance from Anthony Quinn. What a great actor. He is also a wonderful dancer. 

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.