This is a tale about friendship about loss about displacement about bilingualism about biculturalism it's also about family about grief about lack of direction; It also toys with the borders of Lesbianism; It talks about migration
It also talks a lot about the way in which Greeks have been rogered by the IMF bankers over the last 10 years
And by the financial markets. It is also about music specifically Rebetiko (See further down the page)
- It is set on the island Of Lesbos and also moves to Istanbul And a bit of rural Turkey
- Mostly though it is the tale of two women moving around and getting to know each other it is all set to the beautiful sounds of Rebetiko A sort of fusion of Greek and Turkish music which is basically the backdrop for all this story there are four or five instances where a song becomes the most important bit of the story and these are Songs about loss And displacement And abandonment ; the director here Tony Gatlif made a masterpiece movie about Gypsy music in 1993 titled Caravana Cigana (1993) .
The two main protagonists are women in their 20s one is French and heading for Gaziantep But has become separated from her travelling companion a boyfriend who may have taken all her money; the other one Djam is a free spirit A musician and dancer has been sent by her uncle to get a connecting rod replacement for his tourist boat Which allowed him to make a living and is now out of commission due to the missing part he has given her money to go to Istanbul and get a replacement. This is when she meets the French girl.
She herself comes from an underprivileged background and wants to help humanity but is not sure how
Everything gets very emotional quite a few times they have a few spats some arguments both of them walk off at different times
In the end it is really a tale of friendship and a paean to Greeks in exile and the music they carry with them
I think I have done a fair job of describing most of the layers contained therein but there are so many it is almost impossible.
It is a beautiful piece about humanity about humanness About fighting against the odds about the unfairness of the global economy and all the suffering it has created over the last 40 years since the advent of neoliberalism; especially as regards the Greek situation.
Highly highly recommended.
