Loufa kai parallagi (1984)

Director:

Nicos Perakis

Writer:

Nicos Perakis (written by)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The "adventures" of some friends during their military service.

Plot Keywords:

Army | Dictatorship | Film Making | Coup

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Nikos Kalogeropoulos	...	Pvt Ioannis Papadopoulos
Giorgos Kimoulis	...	Pvt Ahilleas Labrou
Takis Spiridakis	...	Pvt Panagiotis Balourdos
Stavros Xenidis	...	Col A. Kontelis
Andreas Filippides	...	Lt. Col. Minas Katsebalas
Hristos Valavanidis	...	Maj D. Karavidis
Antonis Theodorakopoulos	...	Captain
Nikos Tsachiridis	...	Staff Sergeant
Fotis Polyxronopoulos	...	Pvt Michalis Karamanos
Giannis Hatzigiannis	...	Pvt Petros Savvidis
Paris Tselios	...	Pvt Marlafekas
Stavros Mavridis	...	Pvt Apostolis Apostolopoulos
Tania Kapsali	...	Emmanouela Dimaki
Ira Papamichail	...	Soula
Ifigeneia Makati	...	Katerina Papadopoulou

Also Known As:

Λούφα και Παραλλαγή (Greece)
Loaf and Camouflage (International: English title)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Greece

Language:

Greek

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Company:

Filmakers Corporation Ltd.

Trivia:

The two buildings that were used to shoot the film are in Pedion Areos in Athens. The first one is the headquarters of the Hellenic Army Geographical Service and it used to host the facilities of the Military Broadcasting Service, and the second one is the building of the Hellenic National Defense College.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Loufa kai parallagi: Seirines sto Aigaio (2005)

Dictatorship in a different way

Perhaps the best Greek film the last 25 years and a film along with 2-3 more that kept the Greek cinema alive during the 80s. A story of the soldiers who worked on the first attempt to make television in Greece (at the YENNED studios) in the mid-to-late 60s and a funny view of the 7 year dictatorship (1967-1974). People who don't have much to do in life and try to make money from everything (they even try to film a porn film to earn some). Perakis writes and directs this film and makes it hilarious sometimes and caustic, but really serious when it has to deal with matters of people with left political beliefs. The film is original because it does not follow the path other Greek directors used to follow in order to make a film for such periods (and they were many who have done so since 1975). It shows that not anybody was fighting against the regime, not because they didn't like what was happening, but because they did not feel that their life was changed that much and most of all it's not the gloomy depiction of the 7 years. The "ghost" of the dictatorship is always there, don't forget that it's a film about a military dictatorship, seen from a view of people who are IN the army. If you are Greek, then it is, a must-seen-film ! Highly recommended for anybody else !