I could count on the fingers of one hand the films I have seen set or made in Cyprus, despite it being a beautiful island and a regular political flashpoint. This nostalgic film shows the everyday events of a small group of Greek Cypriots and their Turkish Cypriot neighbors just prior to the cataclysmic events of 1974 when the island was engulfed in an uprising which led to the continuing partition between the north and south.
A young Turkish girl remembers the days when a group of villagers were living their daily lives and rehearsing a classic Greek play to be given in the open air theater overlooking the sea. A perennial agitator for ENOSIS (union with Greece) is arrested, released, arrested again. He awakens memories in his former love and partner in activism who is now long married to a cafe owner whom she doesn't really love, but their marriage has become a habit and she has left her idealism behind. A young Greek woman acting in the play is engaged to one man but beginning to fall in love with his brother who appears to be involved with terrorist or patriotic activities, depending on which side you support. Because she is not a local girl she arouses suspicions of betraying 'the cause'. A shopkeeper is carried away with the acting bug and practices constantly, and badly, to the amusement of the villagers peeping through the window. Families are divided on the question of ENOSIS, some appear to be members of EOKA, the terrorist organization, others want to just live in peace and forget about the former troubles.
As the film was in Greek, with English subtitles I was not able to follow the plot closely or work out the relationships. The color appeared faded and definitely did not show the brilliant colors that I remember of Cyprus, but that might just have been my off the air TV reception. Despite the shortcomings, it was a very rare chance for me to see the way of life of the Cypriot people and their hopes and dreams. The open air theaters, families taking their meals outside under the grape arbor, the men spending the day outside the coffee shop passing the time and chatting.
I would love to see a film which showed Cyprus in all its beauty.
