Alexis Damianos - Evdokia (1971)

A sergeant meets Evdokia, a prostitute, and marries her. The harsh light, the rocks, the barren landscape, and the strenuous military training on the one hand, sexuality and prohibition on the other. The environment has a negative effect on the young couple's relationship and the sergeant will try to free himself of their bond. Linked in a common fate that governs their lives, the two lovers rebel against a social system which is more powerful than they are. The heroes of the film are living on the borderline of a surrealist world which is typically Greek and where absurdity constitutes an everyday element of reality. This is a key film on modern Greek society and one of the most important works of Greek cinema.





Un sargento (George Koutouzis) y la prostituta Evdokia (Maria Vasileiou), luego de un breve e intenso idilio contraen matrimonio. Pero como en toda historia de amor, o por lo menos en las verdaderas, la trama es una verdadera “tragedia griega”. El medio social y la geografía importan una ominosa carga que tiene el efecto de corroer la relación. Los amantes se rebelan contra la superestructura que los pone como marionetas en el teatro de la vida. El sargento intentará librarse de sus obligaciones, pero un destino común rige sus vidas. Los minutos pasan cargados de tensión por la infausta certeza que finalmente serán triturados por su osadía.





Many people who seem not to like originality and non-happy endings, are trashing this movie whilst others (amongst them myself) consider it one of the most important movie of the Greek cinematography. The movie is very very low budget but this doesn't take away from the wonderful social critic, the very original direction and the amazing performances of most actors. When coupled with the beautiful music of Manos Loizos, it makes a movie really worth watching. The story as well as the character development is very well presented.

It is also worth mentioning that the two main protagonists are amateurs. George, was a construction worker that was found by the director working in a construction yard, while Evdokia (Maria Vassiliou) was found by the director's wife while browsing through a family photo album. The girl was born in England by Greek parents and at that time didn't speak Greek. Thus the need to dub the movie.

Another interesting fact was that the main theme of the movie was supposed to have lyrics. But when Lefteris Papadopoulos (the lyrics writer) listened to the music he said that such music doesn't need lyrics because it speaks by itself.

I really do recommend this movie.