Greek Cinema & Music Week at MGO

Today will mark the beginning of Greek Cinema & Music Week at MGO.  Part of the problem with Greek cinema,  which I personally think is a well kept secret, is the fact that it is in a language that is not widely understood.  Adding to its limited market share among those who enjoy  foreign films is the inexplicable absence of English sub-titles. Be not afraid, however, I have been able to find a few Greek films with English sub-titles, a few in English and a few in Greek, for those that understand the Greek language. The Greek only films have been chosen for their artistic, visual merit and ability to transcend language without losing their ability to inform. Greek music although more successfully marketed outside of Greece is still relatively unknown, especially in the United States. The musicians and singers I'll be including this week are world class and worthy of a wider audience.

The first featured movie will be, "America, America" directed by a Elias Kazan, a Greek-American who was born in Constantinople but whose family roots were in a small village in Anatolia. Unless you are a lover of vintage cinema, like me, you may have some trouble with this director's name. Kazan was a living legend in the movie industry until his obscure death in 2003. He was primarily known for his films however, he was also an author and wrote a number of excellent novels. Kazan was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director twice and was nominated three times. I won't try to replicate his biography in this post since others have done a much better job here and here. Suffice it to say that Kazan, a former member of the Communist Party was disgusted by his close association with it and with the Stalinist tactics that it employed, so much so, that he admitted his membership to a investigating Congressional committee known as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during the McCarthy era in the 1950s. Under pressure from a fellow Greek, President of Fox Pictures, Spiros Skouras, he confirmed what was already known by the committee, that others in the industry were involved with the Communist party. As a result, he became a pariah in  Hollywood, which has been and still is dominated by the Left. Avoided and shunned, his genius was only recognized a few years ago with a lifetime achievement award, shortly before his death. Kazan paid a heavy price for his testimony. Some in the media are now beginning to better understand the era in light of the facts, Kazan's courage and not according to the romanticized version inspired by Hollywood leftist liberals like George Clooney. It should also be pointed out that Kazan ignored and was in turn, largely ignored by the Greek-American community.

Despite having seen other Kazan landmark films like "On the Waterfront" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," this 1962 movie, starring a little known Greek actor named Stathis Giallelis, made a major impact on me when I first saw it some years ago. "America, America" hit me like a ton of bricks. Perhaps it resonated because Kazan's personal and family background mirrored that of my family to some extent, or maybe it was because he gave me a window into my own history. The film is the story of a young Greek named, coincidentally, Stavros, who leaves his village in Anatolia to fulfill his dream of going to America. His odyssey through Turkey is very difficult, teetering on the edge of disaster, in a land that is inhospitable, barren and cruel. As the would-be immigrant, Stavros, he is all boyish, self-effacing smiles when his father sends him off to Constantinople to invest his family's meager fortune and thereby save them from life Turkish persecution. Stavros is headstrong and rebellious, no longer willing to smile and ingratiate himself with his oppressors. His relationship with his father is strained as a result. In one poignant scene he is taken aside by his father who slaps him in the face only to hug him a few seconds later. Kazan describes life in Turkey in startk terms: "The Anatolian Greeks were completely terrorized people. My father's family comes from the interior of Asia Minor, from a city called Kayseri, and they never forgot they were part of a minority. They were surrounded with periodic slaughters and riots: the Turks would suddenly have a crisis and massacre a lot of Armenians, or they'd run wild and kill a lot of Greeks. The Greeks stayed in their houses. The fronts of the houses were almost barricaded, the windows shut with wooden shutters. One of the first memories I have is of sleeping in my grandmother's bed and my grandmother telling me stories about the massacre of the Armenians, and how she and my grandfather hid Armenians in the cellar of their home ... The Armenians were lustier, their history a much bolder, more rebellious one. The Greeks were crafty, they did not rebel and they did not get killed as much. The Greeks in Kayseri spoke Greek in the house, but outside, in the market-place where the men worked and the women shopped, they spoke Turkish. I still speak both languages. In other words, I speak the language of the oppressed and the language of the oppressor equally well." On the way to Constantinople, everything goes wrong. Stavros is robbed and humiliated by a roguish Turk, whom he finally murders. He works as a lowly beast of burden or "hamal," hauling back-breaking burdens on the Constantinople waterfront, only to be robbed again by a prostitute. He is shot and left for dead after falling in with a band of rebels. One compelling scene shows the rebels' bodies being flung into the sea, while their women, swathed in black, watch from the hillside.

This movie, obscured by time, is a classic bit of Americanism. It speaks to the immigrant experience like few other films. One can't help but cheer for Stavros on his odyssey to the promised land. The scenes are emotional and gut wrenching. Glimpsing America from the bow of the ship, arriving at Ellis Island, waiting on line, not knowing whether something might cause a new immigrant to be rejected and sent back. Stavros is given a new name, Joe Arnes, and baptized a second time in his life, "without benefit of clergy" by an American customs agent.   His new life as an indentured bootblack will be fraught with new difficulties and challenges yet it offers both him and his family new hope in a better life.

I am not going to publish an advance list of movies and artists appearing this week, let's just say I don't want to spoil the excitement of tuning in to find out what's next. So break out the popcorn or chick peas and enjoy.

Comments

[Ioannis]

Wow!

[vinylgreek]

I do not recall exactly when I first saw this film. I do remember feeling a strong connection and a sense of patriotism. America is dream realized, myth come to life. I find it sad that I often have disagreements with my aging, immigrant father over this topic, but find it sadder still that I have similar disagreements with numerous native-born students. Thanks for helping to bridge two worlds.

[Stavros]

VinylGreek,

The task of the immigrant is to preserve what is worth keeping and to discard what is worth changing while replacing it with something superior. The difficulty is deciding what is worth keeping and what should be discarded.

America is certainly a dream, but not always realized. What makes immigrants special, in my mind, is that they dream the dream.