Adults in the Room

I know no other film that takes you behind the scenes of EU politics like this one. A must see if you are interested in European politics or if you are inclined to read the politics section of any serious newspaper.

A clear view from within the eurogroup during the Greek drama. Gavras is bold and shows high tensions, clear colors of the circus we live in, luck of democracy, solid reasons for criticism of an amateur leftist government including Yianis and a great Lulis acting this role. The finale though is weak imo. A solid 6! - but we must revisit the film a few years later. Gavras takes the risk and makes the movie from his and Varoufakis point of view and gives a true atmosphere of the time. If you watch the film watch it trying to stay out fro m political parties and personal views. Discuss it later.

Having read the book "Adults in the room" I was waiting much more from this film. My impression is that Gavras, trying to fit the book in a two hour movie has messed it up. In contrast to the book I couldn't see any evolution of characters but meetings meetings and more meetings (Eurogroup etc). Thé scenes failed to give the narration and the atmosphere that exist in the book. Moreover the film is messed up chronically. Someone who doesn't know the story cannot understand if the whole story occurs in a week or a month or more. The use of first names was really annoying. The Final scene is completely out of nowhere and is nonsense, coming from Greek musical from the 60's.

No in contrast to the book - which I consider as a must read - this film is a total mess. C'est dommage pour Gavras.

As far as the real events, i watched what I was expecting even me not having read Varoufakis's book. So almost nothing special here, no surprise. So, despite the "outsider's" role of Varoufakis, expected some more "insider's" information.

I liked the performance of almost all characters. They are totally in line with the actual person's image to the public, in a dramatic and brutal realistic way together. I would say it is Gavras style with a bit of Nikos Perakis'...

I liked the photography. Lighting and colors are top notch in bright and dark scenes. Especially the darks in Varoufakis' house or the semi-lighted scene when Varoufakis speeks to british bankers. Composition and perspective are also excellent. However, there was some lens distortion in the wide internal shots that could have been avoided. DOPs have managed this decades ago shooting film, so no excuse have them shooting digital nowadays, except it was a choice not a compromise, however i can see no reason for this in those particular shots.

As far as the screenplay and editing. Did not like it very much as a whole. Nice cuts, fluid scenes, but many important events are a bit squeezed at the end. Like the editor suddenly realised that he aproached the movie's time limit and had to exclude takes, or the producers suddenly run out of money. Maybe that is how Varoufakis book ends? Do not know, but it is a movie not a book and I believe great Costas Gabras could have done better here. Final documentary titles also seem to try and fill this gap, with no success in my opinion.

Costa Gavras, in my opinion, as an artist, sensed that something's not wright about EU policy and he felt it was necessary to publicise it, so people can be aware of the situation and start concerning. Obviously Varoufakis' annoying characteristics are clear, however the existence of key facts can be observed and understood easily from a rational human being. More specifically, the hypocrisy of EU, Prime ministers' naivety along with his willingness to help, the phenomenon of uneducated Greek ministers which unfortunately is a crucial factor of Greece's politicians, and of course Varoufakis' critical thinking along with a strong common sense. Also, the detection of the truth from Christine Lagarde closely to her understanding of backing's needity, Wolfgang's egoistic, childish policy, showing of a person who demands to be in charge because of his Country's economic superiority, resistant to help, and lastly EU's clear abeyance to Germany. Dissatisfactory critics are not understandable for me, since every detail referred on this movie, has been previously reported, every fact is online and anyone with a natural way of thinking can observe the truthfulness of the evidences.