Smyrni mou agapimeni

"Smyrna," "Smyrna, My Beloved," also known as "Smyrna, Agapimeni Mou" commemorates the 100th anniversary of the destruction of Smyrna.

A century after the catastrophe of Smyrna comes to life a moving drama about a Greek woman whose family diary recounts the 1922 burning of the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna where Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, Jews, and Turks once lived together harmoniously.

The legendary actress Mimi Denissi is the creative force behind the masterpiece. The film is based on her play, which ran in Athens for an astonishing three seasons and was seen by more than one million viewers. She co-wrote the script and stars in the film.

As someone with roots from Smyrna, this movie shares so many common stories with those that my ancestors have passed down for generations about the atrocities that happened 100 year ago. The film was made with stunning imagery and remarkable historical accuracy.

This is a great, very well-done movie for those who are interested in this dark moment of the city. Notwithstanding the details of the fictional characters, the historical portrayal of what happened is pretty accurate: the abandonment of the Greek army by the Allied forces and the support, instead, of the Turks (who were fighting against them in WWI); the political and civil strife within the Greek mainland; the peaceful (for the most part) cohabitation of all ethnic groups before the start of the war; the destruction inflicted on the local population by the Greek army as they were advancing inland; the purposeful setting of fire by Turks (even American witnesses have written about this); the unacceptable and horrifying refusal of all third countries (including Western powers to help the Greek population that was cornered in the seafront; the massacre, rape, and other atrocities perpetrated against Greek and Armenian residents by militia group of Turks as well as the looting and destruction of properties before the Turkish army intervened.

Smyrna is an intense movie, i can not rate the historical information but is a joy to watch. First of all its the movie with the highest budget in the history of greek production movies but don't expect Hollywood results. The whole movie is based on Mimi's family and the life of Greeks in Smyrna. Watching the movie you will notice some plot holes but the acting is spectacular and the final result above average. For me the biggest problem of the movie is the lack of consistency throughout the storyline and the unsuccessful finishing of the too many themes described. The ending seems hasty and due to this Mimi fails to deliver the family pain she is going through. To conclude Smyrna is a great emotional movie and good enough to deliver the traditions of the city and the great role of women in it.

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 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.