A truly Greek film, at last

Obviously I’m a bit biased here because I come from a greek background, but something I’ve observed is that the cinema from Greece has never really been properly restored or preserved, my theory being that greek Cinema fared better domestically than it did internationally during the 40s, 50s and 60s as opposed to the phenomenon of the French and Italian film industry worldwide.

Every country has that ONE film that’s just closely associated with their culture and way of life. Breathless for France, La Dolce Vita for Italy, Ashes and Diamonds for Poland, The Seventh Seal for Sweden, and then you get to Greece and the first film that instantly springs to mind is…Zorba The Greek? Even though it’s a joint US/Greek production that’s spoken completely in English? Or even Costas Gavras’ Z, despite it being a joint French/Algerian production spoken completely in French? Or My Big Fat Greek Wedding?

Yeah, right!

You get my point. The most famous “greek” films of all time aren’t even truly greek.

Which is what makes this viewing of The Ogre Of Athens, considered to be one of the most significant films to have come out of Modern Greece at the time, a genuine honor and privilege, because as I stated above about the lack of restoration and preservation, these films are incredibly hard to find anywhere, in the best possible condition. I had to do extensive digging online just to track this down and even then, the subtitles weren’t always accurate.

Thomas, a regular bank clerk, goes on the run after bearing facial similarities to a famous wanted criminal going by the alias, The Dragon. And to a group of underworld working-class figures he encounters during his fleeing, he eerily becomes this christ-like, messianic figure to these people, choosing to play along with this influence due to the mediocrity and mundanity of his professional and personal life.

The Ogre Of Athens very much comes from the italian neorealist school of filmmaking, and as you’d expect, is a genuinely hard-hitting look at the struggles and alienation of the working class and their hopes for a better way of life from the people they’ve put in charge.