Kierion

Kierion, named after an ancient Greek city, is a movie about the wheels of history and at the same time a part of film history itself. The story resolves around the murder of an American reporter and the efforts of the deep state to cover it by blaming a Jewish student and a newspaper reporter, Aimos Vagenas. The later is the main narrator and central character as he tries to solve the mystery. As such, the story is a direct reference to the murder case of the American reporter George Polk in 1948 during his visit in Greece to interview Markos Vadiadis, a leader of the communist guerrillas.

Though the film has the premise and the aesthetic of a film-noir, it departs from the whodunit formula early on, being more interested to investigate the political machinations that manipulate the truth. As such, it mostly succeeds thanks to the vivid editing, crisp photography and restless camera, all clearly influenced by nouvelle vague. I have to admit though that I found the constant narration by the main character of many events that were not shown a bit old fashioned and tiring.

The film earns its laurels as a piece of Greek film history for many reasons. It was originally shot in 1967 but was suppressed by the coming dictatorship and only shown abroad until 1974 when it was finally completed and won many awards, if not the acceptance of the audience.

In addition, many of the directors that would later form what is described as the New Greek Cinema helped with its production through acting, producing, co-directing etc. One can see in main roles Theo Angelopoulos, Kostas Sfikas, Stavros Tornes and many others in secondary roles such as Pantelis Voulgaris, Nikos Nikolaidis, Costas Ferris, Tonia Marketaki etc.