Found this film when videotapes could still be rented out of the Main Library. Now it's DVDs you can rent all week for nearly nothing but a late fee. What intrigued me was that here was a film that boasted an experience that paralleled some aspects of the African American experience. Greeks singing their own version of the Blues! What a concept!
Thoroughly enjoyed this film and how it moved so seamlessly to me through the historical upheavals of 20th Century Greek Culture. More than looking for points of correspondence between Greek and African American cultures, I felt like I took a step forward in understanding the angst and pathos and finally tragic underpinnings of the Greek way of life.
From the first frame, you can feel the overcrowding in the cities and the destitute conditions that are being experienced simply viewing the desolate aspect of a cafe where there are more people singing on the stage than can be found in the apathetic audience. Later, there is the unforgettable scene where the female lead sings one of the most stirring blues songs i have ever heard. Aretha Franklin has nothing to worry about, but the haunting tenor of 'Kaigomai-Kaigomai' sung to a packed house of rapt, sober individuals and couples will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Director Costas Ferris exercises a sophisticated eye in composing compelling montages and yet it all seems to me to serve to exorcise the immemorial Greek Spirit at the end which often to outside observers seems to express the belief that it is fated for tragedy. The skillful exposition of a music of outcasts that seems to make tolerable and at times reach above and beyond the spiritual and material impoverishment of these urban Greeks is done with a unique 'elan by Stavros Xarhakos. Sotiria Leonardou comes across at times as a Greek Garbo, absorbing to look at and to listen to as she moves through the episodes of her character's life.
The ensemble of characters have an easygoing, natural relationship with each other. They are at once like people I have known in my neighborhood and at the same time exotic and unlike any people I have known. This is one of those films that definitely rewards repeated viewing and invites a person to make a serious study of the Greek people in ancient and modern times.
Thoroughly enjoyed this film and how it moved so seamlessly to me through the historical upheavals of 20th Century Greek Culture. More than looking for points of correspondence between Greek and African American cultures, I felt like I took a step forward in understanding the angst and pathos and finally tragic underpinnings of the Greek way of life.
From the first frame, you can feel the overcrowding in the cities and the destitute conditions that are being experienced simply viewing the desolate aspect of a cafe where there are more people singing on the stage than can be found in the apathetic audience. Later, there is the unforgettable scene where the female lead sings one of the most stirring blues songs i have ever heard. Aretha Franklin has nothing to worry about, but the haunting tenor of 'Kaigomai-Kaigomai' sung to a packed house of rapt, sober individuals and couples will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Director Costas Ferris exercises a sophisticated eye in composing compelling montages and yet it all seems to me to serve to exorcise the immemorial Greek Spirit at the end which often to outside observers seems to express the belief that it is fated for tragedy. The skillful exposition of a music of outcasts that seems to make tolerable and at times reach above and beyond the spiritual and material impoverishment of these urban Greeks is done with a unique 'elan by Stavros Xarhakos. Sotiria Leonardou comes across at times as a Greek Garbo, absorbing to look at and to listen to as she moves through the episodes of her character's life.
The ensemble of characters have an easygoing, natural relationship with each other. They are at once like people I have known in my neighborhood and at the same time exotic and unlike any people I have known. This is one of those films that definitely rewards repeated viewing and invites a person to make a serious study of the Greek people in ancient and modern times.