Doxobus

By the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was, if not on the verge of actual collapse, at least seriously decadent and clearly on its last legs. All of the Empire's frontiers are in high pressure by its enemies, Heretics (Bogomils) are preaching inside the Byzantine territory and last, but not least, a circle of civil wars will emerge at the European parts of the Empire. In this story, a widow lives in the 14th-century Byzantine village of Doxobus, at the banks of Strymon river, Macedonia, with her son Xenos. She forms a relationship with a village elder, and when she gives birth to the elder's son, Xenos is sent to live in a monastery. When the boy reaches adulthood, he chooses the life of a soldier in the Byzantine army and swiftly rises through the ranks as the civil wars emerge. In fact, as a reward, he is given the governorship of his native village, proving once again that success is the sweetest revenge.

A very underrated and hardly seen movie, with a bad reputation in Greece,due to the troubled first screening on Thessaloniki Film Festival of 1987,where some hooligans were booing at every film they disliked(and especially this one) making the title of the movie a short of slogan for every difficult to understand movie. To be honest,to fully appreciate the movie you have to know the Byzantine history of the era.The plot of the film takes place in the years 1322-1327 in a small village of northern Greece. The reconstruction of the era is so accurate that a critic wrote that is like a documentary made in the Byzantine era.The cinematography also is great(by the famous Giorgios Arvanitis) and the direction and the whole production is really astonishing by the standards of the greek cinema of the '80s. Overall it is a very good movie if you have some knowledge of the history of the period where it's taking place.It has a slow pace but great direction,good acting and high standards of production.