This film starts out by being about one thing, (a young boy growing up without a father, his burgeoning sexuality and friendships), and ends up something else entirely, (a picture of Greece at the time of the dictatorship). It ought to be more interesting than it actually is. It's about youthful revolutionary fervor but it has no revolutionary fervor of its own. It would have been a better film if it had ditched the politics altogether and concentrated instead on the life-lessons of the central character, a boy from a well-heeled family of developers whose father has died suddenly. Konstandinos Papadimitriou sleepwalks his way through the part; his character isn't allowed to develop and you lose interest in him. If the film had been about his older, worldly-wise friend played by Andreas Kontopolous it probably would have been better.
The film dawdles along without any sense of urgency. It's meant to be a child's eye view of the world and in particular of the political situation in Greece at the time but it's like a paint-by-numbers version of "Z". It keeps flashing forward to what appears to be the boy's detention but that feels like a gimmick to keep us watching to the end. We know from the start what is going to happen so we need something a lot more forceful than what the director gives us to sustain our interest. It's well-intentioned but a bit on the dull side.
The film dawdles along without any sense of urgency. It's meant to be a child's eye view of the world and in particular of the political situation in Greece at the time but it's like a paint-by-numbers version of "Z". It keeps flashing forward to what appears to be the boy's detention but that feels like a gimmick to keep us watching to the end. We know from the start what is going to happen so we need something a lot more forceful than what the director gives us to sustain our interest. It's well-intentioned but a bit on the dull side.