DELIVERY

Greece, 2004, 100 minutes, Colour.
Thanos Samaras, Alexia Kaltsiki, Errikos Litsis.
Directed by Nikos Panayotopoulos.

Delivery is a film set in Athens, not in the beautiful city of tourism, not in the city of ancient monuments, but rather in the underside of the city highlighting the poorer neighbourhoods of Athens. This is the world of street people, of refugees, of people touched by some kind of madness.

A young man arrives by bus in Athens. It is not clear where he is from, whether he is Greek or whether he is Albanian as many suggest. He speaks very little. Yet he seems very much alive, wants to get work, has ambitions to be a motorcycle courier or a pizza delivery boy. After being treated in a kindly way by some people, he does get employment in a pizza restaurant. He is also befriended by an eccentric old man who attempts to sell bottles of water amid the traffic on the Athenian streets. He is able to board with him. His other relationship is with a young woman who works at the shop, who is involved with a Chinese gangster, and acts as a prostitute. Whether this man wants to save her, is in love with her is very difficult to know, especially when she suffers a breakdown and he takes her to hospital.

He himself becomes a victim of the streets, of the people that he listens to, of the younger people who mug and rob him. Again, he interiorises his rage so that at the end of the film it erupts irrationally and he kills a stranger. He is then seen, or his point of view is seen, rising over the city. Is he some kind of spirit, angel, avenger?

The film is grim in its look, in its content – but is a different angle on life in contemporary Greece.

1.The meaning of the word ‘delivery’, delivering things, childbirth, liberation or release? Its relevance to the central character? Life in Athens?

2.The Athens locations, the central character arriving by bus, at night, the bus station, the seedier part of the city, the shops, the vagrants, the street people? Immigrants? The underside of the city and Greek culture?

3.The realistic picture of the young man, the magic realism, especially at the end as he flies above the city? The musical score?

4.The portrait of the young man: arriving by bus, sleeping at the bus station, having few possessions? Wanting to be a taxi driver, his skill in learning the streets of the map? His hunger? The people at the bus station café? The meeting of different people, some friendly, some not? The cheese seller and his friendliness, getting him the job, his watching the delivery boys and wishing he was the same? His getting the pizza job, the deliveries and range of clients? Ultimately being bashed and the bicycle being stolen, his inability to return, looking in the window? Meeting the water seller, the water seller inviting him home, a base from which to work, helping the water seller, bringing in some money? The friendship with the old man, their discussions, especially about the meaning of life and death? The friendship with the girl at the pizza shop? Her drug addiction? Watching her dance, dancing with her, her Chinese boyfriend and his using her as a prostitute? His sexual relationship with her? The overdose, taking her to the hospital? His being out of work, somebody giving him money, the sudden violent and his brutality in killing someone? His disappearance? The portrait of a young man, the different names he was called, Gagarin, Solomon, Pizza Boy, Priest’s Son? Albanian?

5.The girl at the pizza shop, typical young woman, drug addiction, going out with the Chinese, the prostitution, her love of dancing, the collapse and her going to hospital, the sexual relationship with the young man?

6.The pizza shop owner, his giving him a job, chatting, the old customer and the talks in the restaurant? The preparing of the boxes for the pizzas? His looking in the window and a new young man with a bike and folding the boxes?

7.The people on the margins, friendly, mad, the man who didn't want to be interrupted and yet talked about women, the muggers?

8.A glimpse of a contemporary city at the beginning of the 21st century – and its underside and the difficulty for people to survive?