Z and other cinematic tales from the 30-year Greek civil war

Abstract

Greek cinema has documented and debated the civil war and its repercussions under different angles, largely defined by censorship, the general political climate, and cinematic trends. This article, first, offers a retrospective that traces the evolution of Greek cinema's ‘takes’ on the civil war vis-à-vis the political changes. Second, it provides an in-depth analysis of Costas Gavras’s film Z, examining its relevance to Greece and how political conflict, in general, is cinematically depicted. The article argues that Z and Gavras’s cinema have been affected and have affected the Greek political situation. However, while Z has spearheaded an international cinematic genre (political thriller), it had minimal effect on the Greek cinema.

Keywords::

• Greek civil war
• Greek cinema
• political cinema
• political thriller films
• Costas Gavras

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. Ferro, Cinema and History, 47.

^2. On the negative construction of the rightist ideology, see Doxiadis, ‘Ideology in postwar Greece’.

^3. Nikolakopoulos, The Cachectic Democracy.

^4. For a comparison between Greece and Spain, see Paschaloudi, ‘Civil War in National Narratives’.

^5. For the relationship between the Occupation forces and the nascent Greek film industry see Sifaki, ‘Cinema Goes to War’.

^6. Andritsos, ‘Occupation and Resistance’, 69–72.

^7. For the economic and broadly administrative framework regulating the Greek cinema, see Sotiropoulou, Greek Cinematography 1965–1975.

^8. The military was particularly irritated by the depiction of army officers. For example, the film Last Mission (1949) was banned because the Army General Staff deemed the film insulting to the officer corps. The film was released only when the screenwriters changed the nationality of the officer's treacherous wife from Greek to Hungarian. Andritsos, ‘Occupation and Resistance’, 88–89.

^9. In fact, the only negative Greek characters in these films are the black-marketeers. They are presented as an irregularity, compared to the nationwide mobilisation against the occupation forces, and their nemesis usually comes as either punishment or disgraceful suicide. For a summary of the main conventions in the plotline of films of this era, see Karali, ‘The War Decade’, 171–173. See also Andritsos, ‘Occupation and Resistance’, 89, 101.

^10. To name just a few: The Raid of the Aegean (1946), The Last Mission (1949), and The Brave's Island (1959).

^11. The terminology of the period is highly indicative. The left-wing forces were called ‘bandits’, ‘wolves of pan-Slavism’, ‘EAM-Bulgarians’, and other similar terms that highlighted their illegality and their foreign character. Andritsos, ‘Occupation and Resistance’, 18; Paschaloudi, ‘Civil War in National Narratives’, 350.

^12. According to the ‘theory of the three rounds’, the communist forces have attempted three times to seize power by force: first, during the Occupation, second, the December 1944 battle for Athens, and, third, the 1946–1949 civil war.

^13. Only a fraction of the reels shot by the DSE film crew has been preserved. The only film that has survived is The Truth about the Children of Greece (1948), which is a documentary that countered the rightist propaganda on the issue of ‘forceful evacuation of children’ [paidomazoma] during the civil war. For the EAM ‘theatre of the mountains’, see Myrsiades, ‘Theatrical Metaphors’, 136.

^14. Paradeisi, ‘Neorealism in Greek Cinema’.

^15. The Outlaws did not manage to fool the censors and it was banned one week after its release. The rationale behind the ban was that a scene showing gendarmes killing a surrendering ‘outlaw’ insulted ‘the glorious Gendarmerie corps which are always true to their word’. Andritsos, ‘Occupation and Resistance’, 121–124.

^16. Elefantis, ‘1951–1967: EDA-KKE’, 33–37.

^17. Karali, ‘The War Decade’, 177–178.

^18. Flitouris, ‘the Civil War on Celluloid’.

^19. Elefantis, ‘1951–1967: EDA-KKE’, 37.

^20. It is noteworthy that before 1967, cinematic officers were usually from the Navy and the Air Force, due to their relative neutrality in Greek politics, among other things. The junta, which stemmed from the ranks of the Army, reversed this ‘injustice’. Stassinopoulou, ‘Creating Distraction after Destruction’, 40–41. It is interesting that in the only film of this era that focuses on the other two branches, Submarine Papanikolis (1971), the Navy appears to enter the war only after the initial wins of the Army in the Albanian front.

^21. Karali, ‘The War Decade’, 172.

^22. Theodoridis, ‘Cinema as Historiography’, 194, 229; Voglis, ‘From Barrels to Cameras’, 109.

^23. Voglis, ‘From Barrels to Cameras’, 110.

^24. Interestingly, this ‘return of the black sheep’ conciliatory approach was not widely accepted within the regime. In fact, most of the junta theoreticians repudiated the concept of ‘misguided Communist’ as opposed to the need to highlight the treacherous role of the communist forces. Theodoridis, ‘Cinema as Historiography’, 227–228.

^25. Ibid., 218–219, 222.

^26. Ibid., 210–224; Voglis, ‘From Barrels to Cameras’, 108–111.

^27. Andritsos, ‘Occupation and Resistance’, 71–72. Military vehicles, allegedly, were also used to advertise the regime-sanctioned films across the streets of Thessaloniki, during the city's film festival. Soldatos, ‘The War Adventure Films’, 37.

^28. Theodoridis, ‘Cinema as Historiography’, 196–197 n. 15.

^29. In terms of censorship, one can discern a shift from ‘postproduction and postpublication interdictions… to the principles of pre-emptive censorship and its formal licensing procedures’. van Steen, ‘Rolling out the Red Carpet’, 58.

^30. Stassinopoulou, ‘War Depictions’, 257–259.

^31. Suffice to say that, during this period, only a handful of films subscribing to the narrative of the Right appeared. A notable example is Eleni (1985). Eleni, which was based on a book by Nicholas Gage, created great controversy in Greece. The decision of the government not to grand Gage permission to shoot in Greece was an indication that the rightist narratives were not welcome anymore.

^32. Tzoukas, ‘The Civil War Inside Them’, 405–406.

^33. Voglis, ‘From Barrels to Cameras’, 106.

^34. Athanasatou, ‘Ideology and Aesthetics’, 140–147; Delveroudi, ‘Greek Cinema 1955–1965’. See also Athanasatou, ‘Greek Cinema (1950–1967)’.

^35. Already during the dictatorship, the TV series Unknown War (1971–1974), which adopts all the conventionalities of the war-themed films of the era, captivated the interest of over 70% of viewers. During the broadcast, the streets literally emptied. Karali, ‘The War Decade’, 174–177.

^36. Production had started during the dictatorship. Despite the ‘bold topic’, Angelopoulos managed to avoid censorship by submitting vague scenario drafts or shooting scenes from memory. Ibid., 178.

^37. Ibid., 182–183.

^38. Voglis, ‘from Barrels to Cameras’, 111–117.

^39. Flitouris, ‘the Civil War on Celluloid’.

^40. Ibid.

^41. Kornetis, ‘From Reconciliation to Vengeance’, 99.

^42. For this discrepancy, see Kornetis, ‘From Reconciliation to Vengeance’.

^43. Ibid.

^44. Good Morning Mr. Marshall, which examines the usual foreign angle. Makronisos, which films the return of former prisoners to Makronisos. Birds in the Swamp, which together with the same director's Among the Rocks (2009) documents women's role in the resistance and the civil war. Captain Kemal: A Comrade, which narrates the interesting story of Mihri Belli, an ardent Turkish nationalist who joined DSE in 1947.

^45. Kornetis, ‘From Reconciliation to Vengeance’, 108.

^46. Agathos, ‘From Text to Screen’, 58.

^47. Stergiopoulos, ‘Before the White Page’.

^48. Theos, ‘The Three-Year Kafkaesque Adventure’.

^49. For instance, Mikis Theodorakis, who was banished to Zatouna (Peloponnese) in 1968 by the military junta, was not allowed by the police to read the script sent by Gavras. For this reason, he identified which songs referred to Lambrakis and authorised Gavras to use any compositions he thought suitable. Zoumboulakis, ‘Z: Forty Years After’.

^50. Richter, ‘Keeping Company in Hollywood’, 143.

^51. Agathos, ‘From Text to Screen’, 54–55.

^52. O'Hehir, ‘Truth vs. Power’.

^53. Stergiopoulos, ‘Before the White Page’.

^54. Agathos, ‘from Text to Screen’, 52–53.

^55. Brooks, ‘Z: Politics on Film’.

^56. Jahiel, ‘Z (France–Algeria, 1969)’.

^57. Galbete, ‘Cinéma: Série Z’.

^58. Most notable is the character of journalist, which also appears in State of Siege (1972), Missing (1982), and Mad City (1997).

^59. For example, portraits or logos have been employed to identify the ultimate culprits also in The Confession (1970) and Missing (1982). Moreover, the use of comical sequences to ridicule the authorities is present also in State of Siege (1972), particularly the scene where the police run around desperately in their effort to silence the loudspeakers.

^60. Smith, French Cinema, 48.

^61. Mellen, ‘Fascism in the Contemporary Film’, 16.

^62. Ibid.

^63. The scene is a clear reference to the Greek law ‘4000/1958’, which allowed the police to shave the heads of disturbers, known as ‘teddy-boys’, and subject them to a degrading procession through the streets. Officially voted to deter prankster youngsters, it soon became a basic tool to quell political organisation in the universities and, generally, among youth.

^64. Smith, French Cinema, 43.

^65. Ironically, EDA was accused in the 11th KKE Plenum of ‘legalistic illusions that impeded it to prevent the dictatorship’. Elefantis, ‘1951–1967: EDA-KKE’, 40.

^66. Jaggi, ‘French Resistance’.

^67. Serceau, ‘La Trilogie’.

^68. Quoted in ibid.

^69. Smith, French Cinema, 56.

^70. Galbete, ‘Cinéma: Série Z’, 6.

^71. Smith, French Cinema, 35.

^72. Other directors that have been associated with the genre are Bertrand Tavernier, Jean-Pierre Mocky, and Philippe Labro. Ibid., 60.

^73. Brooks, ‘Z: Politics on Film’.

^74. Hennebelle, ‘Z Movies’.

^75. Galbete, ‘Cinéma: Série Z’, 5.

^76. Smith, French Cinema, 69.

^77. Holmes and Smith, ‘Introduction’, 2.

^78. Romero, ‘El cine’, 64.

^79. Jean-Luc Godard was considered the primary example of cinema that uses the appropriate cinematic forms to forward social solutions. Loshitzky, The Radical Faces, 23–53.

^80. Romero, ‘El cine’, 66.

^81. Hill, ‘Hidden Agenda’, 40–1.

^82. Quoted in Michalczyk, Costa-Gavras, 17.