Days of 36 (1972)

It is 1936 in Greece, shortly before the Metaxas' dictatorship. A former drug trafficker and police informer, Sofianos, is in prison because of the assassination of a trade unionist during ... See full summary »

Director:

Theodoros Angelopoulos

Writers:

Theodoros Angelopoulos (as Thodoros Angelopoulos), Stratis Karras

Stars:

Vangelis Kazan, Kostas Pavlou, Thanos Grammenos

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vangelis Kazan
Kostas Pavlou	...	Sofianos
Thanos Grammenos	...	Brother of Convict
Giorgos Kyritsis	...	Kontaxis
Petros Zarkadis
Christoforos Nezer	...	Prison Director
Toula Stathopoulou
Christos Kalavrouzos
Vasilis Tsaglos	...	Astyfylakas
Giannis Kandilas	...	Hostage
Petros Hoedas
Takis Doukatos	...	Chief of Police (as T. Doukakos)
Alekos Boubis	...	(as Alexis Boubis)
Giorgos Tzifos
Kaiti Ibrohori

Storyline

It is 1936 in Greece, shortly before the Metaxas' dictatorship. A former drug trafficker and police informer, Sofianos, is in prison because of the assassination of a trade unionist during a rally. A conservative politician, Kriezis, with whom Sofianos had a homosexual relationship, visits him in prison. Using a smuggled gun Sofianos manages to take him hostage in his cell and blackmails the police in order to be released. The government is at a dead end and the country finds itself in a crisis. If they free Kriezis, they will lose the support of the democrats, if they don't, they will lose the support of the conservatives. Being incapable of dealing with the situation, the government decide to kill Sofianos. First, they attempt clumsily to poison him and then they hire a sniper to shoot him.

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Plot Keywords:

1930s | politician | poison | hostage | kidnapping | 

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Part I of "A Trilogy of History" by Theodoros Angelopoulos.

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Connections

Followed by The Hunters (1977)

User Reviews

Early Film from a Master of Cinema

Theodoros Angelopoulos was probably Greece's finest film maker. He had an eye for the artistic and went on to develop a style that others could never even hope to emulate, with long shots, clever and alluring angles and a kind of cinematic poetry. This is his second full length film being made in 1972. It tells the story of Sofianos who is a former drug trafficker and police informant who is arrested for the assassination of a Trade Union leader.

Once in prison the local MP comes to his aid only to be taken hostage. What follows is how the authorities deal with the crisis - badly. Now this is set just prior to the Metaxas dictatorship but was made during the rule of the so called generals and as such there was censorship. So this is allegorical in terms of how it is taking a swipe at the incompetence of the authorities and the parlous state of liberty in Greece at that time.

The downside is that this is very slow and more is left unanswered than is ever even asked – if that indeed makes sense. There are the long shots the great camera angles and a cast of non actors. Some of the acting is wooden and some of the scenes are painfully staged. I like to think that this is deliberate to show the unreality, mundanity or even futility of how life then was. For a modern audience though this will be a hard watch. The print is excellent and looks like it was made only last year not in 1972. If you are an aficionado of cinema then you will want to see this, I appreciated it for its vision and other aspects as described above but at times I struggled with the pace; that having been said it has stayed with me, hence my rating.

Details

Country:

Greece

Language:

Greek

Release Date:

31 March 1976 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Days of 36

Filming Locations:

Intzedin Fort, Chania, Crete, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Papalios Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1