achronis-00396

I'm not a big fan of Hollywood movies where the "good" guy kills a dozen of "bad" guys and eventually wins the day. So, I expected a slow, thought-provoking foreign movie. Alas, there was nothing interesting in the life of a mentally challenged young lady. I tried hard to find some interesting point but it was a waste of more than two hours.

This is a great, very well-done movie for those who are interested in this dark moment of the city. Notwithstanding the details of the fictional characters, the historical portrayal of what happened is pretty accurate: the abandonment of the Greek army by the Allied forces and the support, instead, of the Turks (who were fighting against them in WWI); the political and civil strife within the Greek mainland; the peaceful (for the most part) cohabitation of all ethnic groups before the start of the war; the destruction inflicted on the local population by the Greek army as they were advancing inland; the purposeful setting of fire by Turks (even American witnesses have written about this); the unacceptable and horrifying refusal of all third countries (including Western powers to help the Greek population that was cornered in the seafront; the massacre, rape, and other atrocities perpetrated against Greek and Armenian residents by militia group of Turks as well as the looting and destruction of properties before the Turkish army intervened.