Cinema during the years of the Junta / When the cinema was also in plaster

Next to the conservative ethnographies, some popular comedies and bad versions of popular musicals, during the years of the Junta, patriotic educational films were filmed with themes either from the 21st Revolution or from the period of the Second World War, where, however, the National Resistance disappeared and the role of the resistance was assigned to the… army

Greek cinema was already going through an existential crisis in the mid-60s and could not escape the clutches of the junta of colonels. During the years of the dictatorship, the cinema was used as a means of propaganda and a carrier of nationalism in a laughable way. A common feature of the film stories that had the blessings of the Junta was the complete silence of the resistance of the EAM and the action of the dosilogs during the years of the Occupation, while the Resistance was presented as a result of the bravery of the army men. The green light was limited only to films on the theme of the Paleolithic, the years of the Occupation and the narratives of the glorious past, such as “Dawn of Victory” (1971), “The Gorgopotamos” (1968) and “The Fortress of the Immortals” ( 1971).

The approved, even desired, cinematographic narrative during the Junta period contained fustanelles, heroic stories and light-hearted comedies with dance moves. Among them were films such as “Those Who Talked to Death”, “A Woman in Resistance” (1970), “The Brave North” (1970), “The Papanikolis Submarine” (1971) and “In the Battle of of Crete” (1970). Through the cinematographic productions blessed by the junta and supported by the state in the period 1967-73, a sufficient number of sad cinematographic spectacles emerged, some even touching or even exceeding the limits of bad art, among them some conservative ethnographies, popular comedies and bad versions of popular musicals . Among the films that were shot in the middle of the seven-year period and aimed at stimulating the patriotism and the proper education of young Greek children, we mainly find period adventures that revived the achievements, real or imagined, of 1821.

From ’21 to the Civil War

The three most emblematic productions made during the regime period were “Papaflessas” in 1971 directed by Errikos Andreou with Dimitris Papamichail as the protagonist, “Manto Mavrogenous” in 1971 directed by Costas Karagiannis and starring Jenny Karezi in the title role and Petro Fissoun in the role of Ypsilantis and, finally, “Souliotes” (1972) by Dimitris Papakonstantis. Behind the obvious and expected messages of national pride the scripts bear direct parallels with the Civil War and of course it is implied that only the military are an element of unity against the yoke, while the politicized characters sow discord among the people. The above expensive productions, despite the obvious artistic problems, manage to stand with a certain relative dignity, compared at least to the most propagandistic productions of that period, productions distinguished by kitsch aesthetics, the blatant falsification of modern history, the cold war climate and strong anti-communist references.

The film “The Fugitives of Bulkes” (1969) by Andreas Papastamatopoulos, is a monument of bad taste that was erected to glorify the Decembrians without twists and to accuse the supposedly evil leftist elements who fled to Yugoslavia where, having found asylum, they hatch their next anti-national plans, guided by non-Greek instructors. The worst in the making of the film follows the drama of a lieutenant, whose brother has been brainwashed by gang members. The Junta’s favorite protagonist was undoubtedly Kostas Prekas, who played among others in “No”, a stereotypical romance set against the background of the Epic of Saranda, and in “The Mediterranean is on fire”, where two naval officers, one Greek and one German , who were childhood friends, find themselves facing each other in World War II. Errikos Andreou directed the film “Give hands” (1971), which apparently has a conciliatory profile, but develops the story of a leftist who, due to the death of his beloved, recovers and returns healed in the arms of the family home, discovering the true values ​​of life. The idea of ​​national reconciliation was handled in at least a repulsive way by the film “Grammos” (1971) directed by Ilias Machira, where the bridging of differences results from the repentance of the “outcasts” and the arrogance of the people of law and order.

The role of James Paris

The most influential and at the same time controversial personality in the cinematic events during the Junta was the producer James Paris, an official partner of the regime who managed to make a fortune at that time by making films with a patriotic content. The culmination of the glory of Paris, the film “The great moment of ’21, Papaflessas” directed by the always willing Errico Andreou. Most of Paris’ exploitation films were deeply propagandistic and had received the praise of the colonels. The commission of the blockbuster, for that time, “Papaflessa”, rumored to have exceeded 10 million drachmas (an almost unimaginable amount for a film), coincided with the celebration of 150 years since the Revolution of ’21. The regime’s bold funding brought thousands of extras (mostly foot soldiers) and weaponry to the shoot, with the newly formed General Film Operations (later the Hellenic Cinema Center) working feverishly to push a project that in the middle of the era characterized the Greek “Ben Hoor.” The film reached 300,000 tickets, but its showing at the Thessaloniki Festival caused an unprecedented disapproval from the politicized “outsider”, despite its controversial awards, mainly for patriotic stereotypes, historical inaccuracies and obvious embellishments of complicated events. In fact, such was Dimitris Papamichael’s anger at the intense criticism his performance received, that he publicly demanded the cancellation of the Festival.

James Parris, who had American citizenship, had served in the promotion department of United Artists as well as 20th Century Fox. He returned to Greece at the end of the 50s and his aesthetic perfectly matched the needs of the regime to offer easy and cheap entertainment with a national patriotic sign. His greatest success was the film “On the Borders of Betrayal” (1968) directed by Dimi Dadira, which was perhaps the most typical example of the Junta’s cinematic perception. Costas Prekas and Andreas Barkoulis starred in this ambitious film. It is a huge commercial success film (over 700,000 tickets) in which a major tracks down a Russian agent who is in Greece looking for a secret NATO base, in cooperation with a rogue communist who acts as an informant. Finally, the major of the Greek counterintelligence will arrest the spy and in the court-martial trial it will be revealed that they are brothers and during the Civil War he was transferred to a Soviet camp as a victim of child molestation. When the Soviet of Ka-Ge-Be discovers that he has Greek roots he will declare repentance and the arrogant Greek state will give him a second chance. The film closes with images of a military parade, with the image of Andreas Barkoulis in uniform marching in the Syntagma. The film “On the border of betrayal” after the fall of the Junta was characterized as a propaganda work and was never broadcast on Greek television in later years.

Censorship in Greek films

The regime did not stop only at new productions but carried out a review of the films that had been licensed for screening before the coup. Films such as “Face to Face” and “The Shepherds of Calamity” did not escape the scope of censorship after the fact, while older productions went under the knife, with the result that most of the anxious creators self-censored, as they faced the producers’ resistance. One of the films that cut off the colonels’ scissors was “Stephania” (1967), with Zoi Laskaris in the role of a young woman who ends up in a torturous reformatory. Individual lines that might contain scattered references to Democracy were cut from countless films, such as “Girls in the Sun” with Giannis Voglis (1968), “Oi thalassies oi handres” by Giannis Dalianidis, “Girl in the Amusement Park” with Aliki Vougiouklakis and “Wake Up, Vassilis” (1969), even though Psathas’ script contained strong anti-leftist allusions in the general cauterization of political confrontations in bourgeois society.

The birth of political cinema

From “Days of ’36” by Theodoros Angelopoulos to “Consulate of Anna” by Pantelis Voulgaris

In the midst of the darkness of Greek cinema, an alternative cinema managed to emerge, which stood up to the conservatism of commercial Greek films that were in sympathy with propaganda films. The brave wave of political cinema, which would flourish later, in the Postcolonial period, spoke in a parallel or allegorical way about the political situation in Dictatorship Greece.

The ground for the New Greek Cinema is naturally laid with the work of Theodoros Angelopoulos “Days of ’36” (1972), where the visionary creator speaks poetically about a dictatorship in the years of another dictatorship. From that wave of creation and resistance emerged many creators, such as Kostas Sfikas, Stavros Tornes, Pavlos Tasios, but also Dimos Theos, who had signed the dark political thriller “Kierion” in 1968.

Milestones

Landmark films for the political cinema of the time were “Open Letter” (1967) by Giorgos Stamboulopoulos and “Anna’s Consul”, where Pantelis Voulgaris will narrate with emotion and discretion the resistance attempt of an oppressed woman who denied her fate Psycho girl. The film was awarded at the Berlin Film Festival during the period when the director was exiled to Gyaros. Also emblematic is the debut of Tonia Marketakis entitled “John the Violent” (1972), the psychograph of an abuser who has been nurtured in the molds of the patriarchy. Marketakis, based on a crime, made a bold ethnography and put forward her feminist point of view without leaving room for atonement for the viewer. The baton was later taken up by Frida Liappa with the autobiographical “A life I remember leaving” (1977). A typical example of anti-dictatorship cinematography is Liappa’s short film entitled “After 40 days”, in which the director filmed the night walks of the hero around Omonia, while at the same time hiding from the patrols.