Das Photo (1986)

Das Photo: Directed by Nikos Papatakis. With Hristos Tsagas, Aris Retsos, Zozo Zarpa, Despina Tomazani. Ilias Apostolou, a young furrier who has had a hard time under the dictatorship, leaves Castoria in 1971 to emigrate to France, where he hopes to join a distant relative of his, Gerassimos Tzivas, who has been living there since 1950. With him, he takes nothing from his homeland but a photograph of a person that he finds on the pavement. He asks Gerassimos to help him in finding work in Paris. A misunderstanding around the photograph, however, sets off a series of dramatic events.

“I fotografia (The Photograph) is one of the most highly acclaimed Greek films but very few people have actually heard of the movie (even in its country of origin). What I enjoyed in Papatakisu0026#39; film is the representation of the Greek society during the time when the Junta (Military dictatorship) was already governing the country (1971-1974). Except from the obvious focus on human obsessions and the psychological thriller turn of the film, we could clearly see the political comment on how hard it was to survive in Greek circles (within the country and abroad) if you were considered to be a communist.In Kastoria, the city where the story begins, all these banners in favour of the regime had u0026quot;Greece of Greek Christiansu0026quot; or u0026quot;Country, Religion, Familyu0026quot; written on them. These were the main slogans of the dictators. I found the storyline about the protagonistu0026#39;s (Yerasimos) love of an idea (a photograph)quite metaphorical and parallel to the Greek populationu0026#39;s blindness towards the Junta.As Ilias characteristically says to his mother towards the end of the film u0026quot;what we love about someone is their lieu0026quot;.”