Errikos Andreou and Robert Tronson directed AN ACT OF REPRISAL, which came out in 1964, four years after Cyprus had attained independence from the colonial power, the United Kingdom, which had ruled the island with a military iron fist and the imposition of very heavy taxes that kept the vast majority of the Cypriot population on the poverty line and below it.
REPRISAL reflects the various problems facing the island: the Greek majority did not trust the Turkish minority any more than the latter trusted the former - and the British trusted neither but by the time the story begins, with British colonial official Harvey Freeman (Jeremy Brett) captured by Greek Cypriot rebels, the UK had moved most of its forces from Egypt, where they had surrendered control over the Suez Canal, to Cyprus. Add to that international criticism and effective guerrilla war tactics by the Greek Cypriots, which sought enosis (union with mother Greece), and the UK began to see the wisdom of granting independence given the high price in terms of British lives, war costs, and general antagonism from the local population, including the Turkish segment which wanted nothing to do with the Brits and even less with mother Greece.
The film touches on all of those difficulties and contradictions by focusing on budding but star-crossed love between a female Cypriot rebel played by beautiful Ina Balin and dashing British official Brett. Unfortunately, the shoestring budget allows for little more than bombs dropped by British aircraft exploding all over the countryside until Brett, Balin, a Turk, and a Greek Orthodox high priest are captured, first by rebels, then by the British authorities.
Cinematography is extremely amateurish, although the love scene punctuated by explosions as Brett and Balin share a night of love deserves singling out for its beauty and purity.
The rather stilted dialogue also leaves much to be desired and, judging from the copy I watched, it is not helped by poor sound quality.
PS - Today, 65 years later, Cyprus has split into northern Cyprus, ruled by the Turkish population, and southern Cyprus, ruled by Greek Cypriots, with UN personnel guaranteeing security over a buffer zone to keep Turks and Greeks apart. The British still keep military bases on Akrotiri and Dekhelia, on the Greek side of the island.
REPRISAL reflects the various problems facing the island: the Greek majority did not trust the Turkish minority any more than the latter trusted the former - and the British trusted neither but by the time the story begins, with British colonial official Harvey Freeman (Jeremy Brett) captured by Greek Cypriot rebels, the UK had moved most of its forces from Egypt, where they had surrendered control over the Suez Canal, to Cyprus. Add to that international criticism and effective guerrilla war tactics by the Greek Cypriots, which sought enosis (union with mother Greece), and the UK began to see the wisdom of granting independence given the high price in terms of British lives, war costs, and general antagonism from the local population, including the Turkish segment which wanted nothing to do with the Brits and even less with mother Greece.
The film touches on all of those difficulties and contradictions by focusing on budding but star-crossed love between a female Cypriot rebel played by beautiful Ina Balin and dashing British official Brett. Unfortunately, the shoestring budget allows for little more than bombs dropped by British aircraft exploding all over the countryside until Brett, Balin, a Turk, and a Greek Orthodox high priest are captured, first by rebels, then by the British authorities.
Cinematography is extremely amateurish, although the love scene punctuated by explosions as Brett and Balin share a night of love deserves singling out for its beauty and purity.
The rather stilted dialogue also leaves much to be desired and, judging from the copy I watched, it is not helped by poor sound quality.
PS - Today, 65 years later, Cyprus has split into northern Cyprus, ruled by the Turkish population, and southern Cyprus, ruled by Greek Cypriots, with UN personnel guaranteeing security over a buffer zone to keep Turks and Greeks apart. The British still keep military bases on Akrotiri and Dekhelia, on the Greek side of the island.
