2 reviews
Koemtzis didn't kill just any punters. It was 3 policemen he attacked, and that during the dictatorship period, when they were most disgustingly provocative and intrusive. As he later admitted, he was fuelled by hatred based on what he had been through in the past. The film is not a documentary or a reconstruction but rather focuses on this political aspect as well as the 'popular' (ie working class) Greek culture of earnest manliness, and 'trashy' nightlife. The gist though I think is in Katerina Gogou's poetry whose reciting is amazingly powerful, although her actual appearance in the film seems unnecessary. Antoniou's performance is beautiful too. English viewers might become annoyed by the caricatured non/English customer and repelled by the kitsch & non-PC protagonists, but I think it's to Tassios' credit that he painfully zooms into the unsavoury & ugly.
Nicos Koemtzis ordered a zeibekiko,a dance designed to be performed by one person only originating from the oriental family of dances.Most people believe that the song ordered was 'Ta dyo sou heria pirane' by Vamvakaris.Some viewers argue that the song that it is heard in the movie is 'Antilaloune dyo fylakes'.This remains a problem in the noise produced in music places.1973:the dictatorship era.An order(paraggelia) for a song to be danced by Koemtzis.Some people interfere during his performance by dancing simultaneously.Eight persons are stabbed,3 of them killed.Koemtzis will be sentenced for life(in 1996 he was granted a grace).'To makry zeibekiko gia ton Niko' by D. Savvopoulos is one of the songs illustrating the Tasios' movie.The political ramifications of the story are uncleared.The movie can be seen as a mosaic presenting human pain and humiliation.Koemtzis became a symbol of courage.This kind of dance continues to be a legendary expression in the context of movies like 'Zorba','Stella','Drakos','Evdokia','Rebetiko' and 'Kaixis' which are all related to the history of music and dance in contemporary Greece.