THE STONE YEARS (PETRINA CHRONIOU)
Greece, 1985, 142 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Pantelis Voulgaris.
The Stone Years of the title refer to 1954 to 1974 and focuses on membership of the Communist Party and its illegal status. It focuses on the aftermath of the Greek Civil War, the attempts of the Left to gain power, the assassination of Lambrakis (the basis for the film Z) in 1963, the coup of the Generals and the overthrow of the Generals in 1974. The film is episodic and epic. However, rather than focusing on the broad history and panorama of Greece during these years, it focuses on two characters and traces their hardships at the time. The film moves rapidly from one period to the other with subtitles - an effect that makes the film less accessible to a universal audience, not familiar with the details and feelings of this period of history.
The film has a long running time, is often very slow, relying on close detail to communicate the characters and their moods. However, the film is well-acted in a plaintive way that elicits audience sympathy.
As with so many films dealing with the period, the film highlights the arrogance of the Centre and Right-wing governments against the Left - and makes judgments in retrospect about civil rights and repression.
1. An interesting film? For Greek audiences? For world-wide audiences? Audience knowledge of the period?
2. The title and its ironies, the focus on the characters and their imprisonment? Illegal status? Repression and persecution? The contrast with the post-'74 period and the hopes for democracy in Greece?
3. The re-creation of periods: the 1950s, the '60s, the 1970s - sets and decor, costumes? The details of life at the time (music, cinema)? The passing of the years? The episodic nature of the film? The use of close-ups, the slow pace of the film and the sudden bursts of action? The musical score and its moods?
4. The film's comment on Greek history: the impact of World War Two, the civil war, the Communist Party and the lost of the war, the illegal status of the Communist Party? The role of the police, the military? The various movements for democracy? The riots and protests? The coup of the Generals? Prisons and the treatment of political prisoners?
5. The film as a portrait of Eleni: in the town, her hopes of being a doctor, her love for Babis and the lyrical sequence by the river? The trip to Athens and the encounter with the actress? Her hopes? her illegal status? The frustration of her hopes? the passing of the years and her being on the run? Separated from family? Searching for Babis? The various contacts within the party, the various rendezvous points? Police chases and her eluding the police?. The reunion with her aunt? The glimpses of Babis - on the boat and her waving at him? His release? The encounter and her pregnancy? Her arrest? The imprisonment, life in prison, the birth of the child and the other women prisoners helping? The encounters with Babis across the courtyard? The decision about the judge? The happiness of the wedding? The son exchanging the crowns during the ceremony? The change of government, her taking her own time to leave the prison? The final reunion with Babis and her son after twenty gears? The portrait of a woman's courage, political convictions, the experience of her family, the exile of her mother, her aunt? A woman of courage?
6. Babis and the opening, his love for Eleni, the arrest and the torture, his imprisonment, not being heard of, being glimpsed on the boat, the release, a stranger to Eleni yet loving her, the reunion, the child, his looking for the child in the park, his arrest, communicating with Eleni across the courtyard, the marriage, the happiness, reunited with Eleni?
7. The background of families, parents and grandparents exiled, the sequence with Eleni’s aunt? The people in the town? Partisans? Police? The law, the warders - and the sympathetic wardress for Eleni? The prison officials? The fellow-prisoners?
8. The prison sequences and their effectiveness? Eliciting audience sympathy for the characters?
9. Themes of Left and Right, political convictions, legality and illegality of parties?
10. A film of human values? The basic human values transcending persecution and suffering?
