To bloko

Sep 1 1965 N/A 1h 14m
Drama, War

One of filmmaker and expatriate writer Adonis Kyrou's best-known quotes translates roughly as "I urge you: Learn to look at 'bad' films, they are so often sublime." The same could be said of Kyrou's own directorial work in Greece before the advent of the 1967 dictatorship forced him to flee to Paris. This confused mess, the first cinematic attempt at portraying the Greek resistance in WWII, caused quite a stink upon release, as much for its surprising style (recalling that of Bertolt Brecht) as for its subject matter. Reaction to its screening as part of the 1966 Cannes Film Festival's International Critic's Week was heated and divisive, proving Kyrou's later statement by rising above its own inherent silliness to achieve a sort of rarefied critical status. It's bad drama that nonetheless succeeds by dint of audacity more than quality (a comment which could apply equally to the work of many exploitation directors like Jean Rollin whom Kyrou later so lovingly profiled).

Plot

On a quiet but restless summer night of the turbulent 1944, the German conquerors set up an ambush in Kokkinia, a poor commoners' neighbourhood of Piraeus, and manage to capture Kosmas, a ruthless black marketeer, during the celebrations for his marriage with Antigone. Under those circumstances, Kosmas will soon have to face an impossible and agonising dilemma: he must betray his country to save his life. But is Kosmas really a traitor?

Written by

Adonis Kyrou, Gerasimos Stavrou, Jean-Paul Török

Directed by

Adonis Kyrou

Cast

Xenia Kalogeropoulou, Alexandra Ladikou, Giannis Fertis

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Greece

Production Companies

Grift Film

Languages

Awards

1 win

Scores
# of Votes
179
Average Rating
7.3 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA