A handsome, slow moving first feature by a director with considerable experience in documentaries.
Whatever fiction there is in this story is only an excuse to lead into an almost entirely
documentary portrait of a human tragedy of major proportions. EDNA FAINARU (VARIETY) Lefteris
Xanthopoulos went to this village and endeavoured to depict the reality of life there today
without confining himself to a passive recording of events or to presenting a fictional account.
His point of view does not subject his characters (for the most part the real life protagonists
of the story) nor the landscape to any directorial "staging". The frontal shots, the measured
pace of speech and gestures by the leading players characterize this style of filming.
Paradoxically it is this playing down of the direction that produces the greatest fictional
tension: what is behind the scenes is what makes the greatest impression on the screen, full
of potential action.
FRANCOIS ALBERA (PARDONEWS)
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