Hostage (2005)
"Omiros" (original title)

Inspired by the real-life story of a bus hijacking in Northern Greece, HOSTAGE explores the sensitive issue of Greek-Albanian relations through a young Albanian who takes over an intercity ... See full summary »

Director:

Constantine Giannaris

Writer:

Constantine Giannaris

Stars:

Stathis Papadopoulos, Theodora Tzimou, Yannis Stankoglou

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stathis Papadopoulos	...	Elion Senja
Theodora Tzimou	...	Iliana
Yannis Stankoglou	...	Grigoris
Minas Hatzisavvas	...	Police Commander
Arto Apartian	...	Giannis
Marilou Kapa-Valeonti	...	Angeliki
Konstantina Angelopulou	...	Kelly
Antonis Ntourakis	...	Orfeas
Manolis Afoliano	...	Jack
Rajmonda Bullku	...	Francesca
Ndriçim Xhepa
Ersi Malikenzou	...	Old Lady
Konstadinos Siradakis	...	Biris
Eleni Kastani	...	Martha
Theofania Papathoma	...	Kaiti

Storyline

Inspired by the real-life story of a bus hijacking in Northern Greece, HOSTAGE explores the sensitive issue of Greek-Albanian relations through a young Albanian who takes over an intercity bus. Upon hijacking the bus, he takes the seven passengers hostage and demands a ransom of half and million euro, and safe passage to his homeland of Albania. Surrounded by police, the bus trundles towards the Albanian border and the tension mounts until the final harrowing conclusion.

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Plot Keywords:

bus | hostage | hijacking | albania | hand grenade | 

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Taglines:

I want only young people in the bus. If I get killed, not only my mother should cry. Theirs should cry too...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [gr]

Country:

Greece Turkey

Language:

Greek Albanian

Release Date:

4 March 2005 (Greece)

Also Known As:

Eve Dönerken

Company Credits

Production Co:

Greek Film Center, Alpha TV, C. Giannaris Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Orionas"
Performed by Theodosia Tsatsou
Written and Produced by Theodosia Tsatsou & Paul Stefanides

User Reviews

Stockholm syndrome in modern-day Greece

Jesus. What a bore. This film is even worse than Romanian films (give or take one or two). The photography sucked big time (I think they shot it on digital format, you can almost tell by the plain two-dimensional shots, unimaginative hand held's, and dull colors - and don't tell me that's bleach-by-pass). I do know the Balkans are a very troubled region, where deep-seated xenophobia and nationalistic behavior make victims each and every year, yet this film didn't quite grasp that. The film is detached, not in a Michael Haneke way, but in a most tiresome unmoving manner, treading its way down the sunny slopes of Greece at a snail's pace, although it wants to mislead us into believing that what we're dealing here with is a thriller. The acting was so awful that I thought they had some b-series/ sitcom/ soap opera actors memorize some lines and deliver them in a very flat voice. As for the love making scene between the Albanian would-be hunk and the would-be steamy Greek woman (huh, forbidden love), I deem it less sexy than an Orthodox monastery dormitory. And despite the camera that was all-go (hand-held, because it's easier and cheaper than to use camera grip equipment), the story was so all-stand-still that I couldn't take it. Maybe some Western Europeans could find interesting this wanna be larger-than-life drama set in present day Greece, where the bad guy comes from Albania, living up to his stereotyped status, and the people on the bus are so afraid of him that they're a couple of beers short of joining him into a dance, accompanied by live guitar. You know, like we'd do in elementary school, till the driver'd shoot us off.