DVD Na kathesai kai na koitas

We saw this at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sept. 2013. A mistake! Marina returns to her small town from Athens during the economic downturn. She gets a job as an elementary school teacher in the school where her friend works. She takes up with a younger man, who treats her badly. Meanwhile her friend is constantly being beaten up by her own boyfriend. It all ends in Marina's attempted rape and the shooting of the attempted rapers by an old ex-boyfriend.

This was almost impossible to understand. No one ever calls each other by name or explains anything, so who is the mysterious man Marina keeps visiting? Her father? Brother? Ex- boyfriend? Why does Marina come back? Why does Marina stick around? Is this the life she really wants? What could be worse? Who knows…certainly not the director.

Beyond this, the director had two major failings. First, he seemed oblivious to the fact that a movie is a form of art, and therefore any elements need to contribute to the whole in some way. Why were the repeated shots of windmills not turning inserted? What did that mean? It turns out, according to his answer to that question, nothing. They were simply new windmills that hadn't been connected yet. Didn't mean anything. He answered question after question in the same way–scenes had no connection with the movie, they were just thrown in because they were cheap, or because he photographed them by chance. So no wonder the movie didn't make sense!!! The second problem was the message of the film, which theoretically was the increased independence of women. But all the women are dominated, beaten, raped or almost raped, etc. etc. If they dare to fight back, they are beaten even more. In the climactic scene, where Marina is being raped by her boyfriend and his boss, the audience expected Marina to either stop (or kill) her attackers, or take revenge afterwards. Neither happens. A minor character (her ex-boyfriend) grabs his rifle and kills the attackers. When asked why, the director said he didn't think a female character could do this, so he had to use a male character. When asked about the horrible treatment of women, he said that's the way it was in Greece. Charming!