Smyrni mou agapimeni

This movie creates a lot of emotion. It kept us on our toes. It has an historical aspect to it from multiple points of view (English, Greek, American, Ottoman and Turkish), which the production does a great job of including. I am separating the Ottoman point of view from Turkish one, since Ottomans then included Greeks, Armenians, Turks, Kurds and Jews, and their point of view was completely different than all the rest as depicted in the movie (like Halil's dad and Dimitris' brother).

Nationalism is bad everywhere and atrocities did happen.

Acting was pretty good with the exception of Mimi Denisi whose acting towards the end was kind of flat.

This movie's narrative is similar to the stories my displaced grandparents would tell. My family even has the deeds of land from Smyrna. I would advise some history reading for the nationalist haters out there. A quick search would show Izmir's history. Izmir/Smyrna had a huge Greek population since its founding (2500 years ago) up to 1922. Please note to the Nationalists that this is a movie.

I went to see Smyrna with great trepidation. I was worried I would get too upset. I did lose it. The movie evokes a time and place that pains me for all the hope that was Smyrna, and what the city could have become. The film is a reflection of an opportunity lost due to nationalistic and religious ideologies clashing with the lives of people, until these people were annihilated. The vision of a new Turkey did not include the storied inhabitants that were outside the mold Ataturk had cast.

All 4 of my grandparents were born in Asia Minor with 1000s year's history. All the bones of my ancestors are still there. Their bones nourish the food grown there. When you visit Turkey, in the countryside you will not see any graveyards with my family's names nor the churches where their sacraments were performed.

My father's family left Aidinio (now Aydin) thru Smyrna after my father's oldest brother, barely 18, was shot dead by regional irregulars.

I have heard and read my aunts and uncles stories and diaries. The movie is a faithful representation of the thoughts and events. My father's father was shot by the lead hand, who was Turkish, after he handed him the keys and asked him to take care of their orchard until they returned. Thankfully he lived. I know the plot is of a wealthy family from inside Smyrna, but the ethnic cleansing happened throughout Anatolia.

The port scenes made me cry because my aunt who was a toddler was lost over a gang plank and drowned in Smyrna harbor. The horrors of the port were nowhere as gruesome as what really took place.

After you see the movie, go out and learn for yourselves what took place. Although Ernest Hemingway was not present during the burning of Smyrna, he wrote for the Toronto Star and filed stories for the paper as many others have. As well as writing "On the Quai at Smyrna".

I want to thank the Producers of the movie for their courage and dedication to bringing this story forward and opening the eyes of some while others keep them tightly closed. Have no fear, open your eyes.

I am in this! So I can't review it. I loved the script- co written with Martin Sherman.

This film adapted from the hugely successful stage play by Mimi Denissou.

Couldn't fly out to Athens for the premiere Dec23 because of Covid restrictions.

I loved the crew.- multi lingual most of them. Thanks be.

I will state up front that I have not seen this film. I write, not a review per se, but a warning: the Turkish government employs an army of trolls whose seeming sole purpose in life is to attack any film, book, play, etc. That dares to speak the truth regarding the 1915-1922 genocide of the Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians. In a particularly egregious example of this, reviewer "yavuzco" claims that Izmir (the city known as Smyrna until the 1930s, and was populated primarily by Greeks and Armenians) "was always Turkish," as though the 1000-year reign by the Greek Byzantines never happened. This is evil nonsense, on a par with Holocaust denial. If the Turkish propagandists are ignored, you will likely get a far better feel for how good the film is. I know as a result of their idiocy, I'm now going to watch a film I might not have otherwise.

It's a good movie and worth a watch. Acting is ok. Shows violence and sexual scene. Highlights the tension between Greeks and Turks, and the unjust Turkish occupation of Smyrna, which eventually led to the city's destruction. After the Turkish army invades Smyrna, Greece, the Turkish army massacres countless Greek and Armenian residents making the rest refugees. A darker moment in history.

*Beware of the Turkish propaganda thriving in this comments section though. Sadly this always the case with any mention of Greek or Armenian.. Odd that Erdogan still uses this time frame as a reference and veiled threat towards Greeks and Armenians today. All I can say is you can't rewrite history, but we sure as heck can keep it there. No one wants this again in any direction.