After having seen a lot of Greek movies I feel very suspicious against most of them. But after watching this I felt astonished. The movies is great without a big try. You cannot claim that the screenplay is so great or the photography is perfect or something technical. It's a real story and it is happening in Greek rural areas in places forgotten from God. The movie is like a punch in the stomach and I would really wish that things are not like this. It obviously talks about the xenophobia of the Greek people (the ignorance)to anything different. The problem of this guy is not that he is an ex-convicted. The problem is that he is not one of these people. He is different and they do not want them (that's why all the good things he is doing turn boomerang to him). And also speaks about the apathy of the people, because there are some people who are against the hunting of the King, but they do not dare to say their opinion. In the end you can clearly see the hypocrisy of the society being religious and trying to act like God says, but at the same time acting so unfairly to the King. This shows how easily people rationalize their feelings or their beliefs according to the established system. In the end you can have a positive lesson from this very bad story, meaning that you can understand and be part of this society only if you want to become one of them. If you want to remain different and even alone, you are lost (and it is not far from reality) I think it is tragic that the story is real and this should be a bell for everybody. No comment for the main actor because he is already given an award and I believe that his play was great. Small comment for Hatzisavvas (plays the policeman), he is like a dinosaur, he has played a lot of roles and I'm sure that this role for him was very easy but he plays it so great that you cannot deny him a big bravo. I definitely recommend this movie to anybody who wants to see a good Greek movie.
Add a Review
-
yannis_pil9 April 2006
-
Panos24223 July 2006Perhaps, one of the most important and enjoyable Greek films i've seen in the last ten years..Excellent performances(especially yiannis zouganelis is great), well-written script and effective direction from a very special, for the Greek very average standards, auteur. A film, obviously influenced by Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, that could be a masterpiece if it avoided some evident and exaggerative situations and symbolizations in the end. Nevertheless, this is a movie which deserves our attention and belongs to that rare category of Greek movies which should be watched outside Greece. It's a shame that in Greece didn't work commercially, in addition with other fake and cursory big productions like Politiki Kouzina..
-
KGB-Greece-Patras3 March 2005Indeed fellow mate from Greece, few Greek films can make such an impression. I don't really give a s##t whether it made a 'blockbuster' success - what I would really like for this film is to be given a chance for an international watching (the DVD i saw has English subtitles option) and that's great because it deserves to be seen outside Greece as well.
An accurate study on the culture and ethics of Greek country, especially that of a small community like a village. All acting is excellent, music also fits the mood great, the plot (based on a real story) is gripping, everything is perfect in this film which has nothing to do with the rest of the wanna-be Greek crap that gets wide distribution.
Grammatikos is a great visionary, his other film I have seen, "Apontes" is also great - but didn't make me the same impression as this did. Add that Giannis Zouganelis (comic legend, but also good actor) is also in it and you got a winner - by any measure - either you're a enthusiastic film buff (arty or not) or your an occasional film-goer, you have to see this great Greek film to appreciate it, and to see that THERE IS Greek cinema that has something to say, if rare.
And yes, there's woman skin for all to see, but fortunately not enough (and not filmed SEXY enough) to make the viewer distract from the true thing.
All thumbs up (hands and feet), easily one of my best Greek films so far! -
C2lhu7 July 2008This is a dramatic film in the whole sense of the word. It tells a tail that here in Greece we live as a routine in everyday life without realizing how sad it is. Sure it has some extremes.. but every now and then real life sorrow surpasses art.It is deeply critical of the goals we pursue and the whole social structure build around them. The film has a deeper understanding of Greek ways of life, stereotypes, and social structure. Unlike most Greek films that have a certain fast-food-mainstream audience, this one does not target anyone in particular but while you watch it you feel that someone put the best possible words and pictures to describe your feelings. I am not a big fan of traditional music either but I wouldn't like to hear anything else when it was played during the film.
If someone told me to say something against this film I'd define the following, sometimes the transition between scenes seemed sudden or somewhat cut. I guess the editing had to cut it up to fit the 2hours and a bit for the theatres..
Anyway I could write more and more to express my thought over this but I guess u have to see it and discuss it with a friend. A must see -
Darth_Yannis4 June 2004This movie was not so much promoted here in Greece,even though it got good actors , great script and rather good photograph was not a so called "blockbuster" movie in my Country. The movie itself is very powerful,it's about the hard time that a newcomer had to go through when he returns in his home-village after been released from a 5yo prison time(drugs) The end is rather sad.... Mourikis is trying to keep up with his part and he handles it pretty well... Lambropoulou is great and very sexy in a strange way and of course Hatzisavvas is for one more time close to excellency... 7 out of 10 because very few Greek movies can make such an impression!
-
costadaki12 May 2023One of the best greek cult films with many great actors, based on a true story once happened in Douneika Achaias. Vaggelis, once he gets out of prison (made his time for drugs) decides to make a fresh start and decides to leave Athens. He goes to his father's village which is deserted and starts building the house from scratch. People in the near village don't take his arrival in good heart so they make everything for him to leave. Sad story for a man who wants to turn his life upside down and change for good but people never accept him. A film worth seeing. Music by Thanasis Papakonstantinou.
-
r-fronimides15 November 2021Its a classic anti-hero film; you have watched sooo many similar films.
This doesn't something new or different. The screenplay is "ok" (nothing superb, but ok, fine), the direction and script is also "ok" (fair, good, but nothing to get so much excited), with "ok" music (no other comment), etc.
Seriously, if you watched the FIRST (and ONLY GOOD) film "RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD", its almost the same... without the action, the fights, the chasing, etc. Its far more emotional this film here, obviously, its more dramatic (than "RAMBO"), but seriously, if you watch "RAMBO"... why to watch this one here too?
Its not a "masterpiece", its an "ok" dramatic film, that's all. -
fifo3515 August 2005the king in this film is what can be called here in Greece freak, marginal misfit and other words with negative connotations, but in the film is clearly the vehicle of the director to criticize the provincial mentality of the people and Greece by extension. the director must have a leftist ideology or anti-establishment and doesn't hesitate to show it in his films, in APONTES is more clearly stated than in VASILIAS.My problem with his film-making is that he tries to teach me a lesson(if you succumb to the ruling class ideology you become an a*****e or a person that attracts his despise) i don't disagree with him but thanks for the lesson i already had it.Nevertheless although the film gets a little boring and predictable after a while, but is still worth seeing for the indigenous population who is bombarded by worse films in the multiplex. better to see a clichéd old fashioned anti hero drama than some junk mainly from the states.
-
chrpaplos11 September 2020Worst film ever. Don't bother to check it. It's a miss of time. Scenario, acting and directing is unacceptable