In the era of the prevalence of social media as the main means of communication and the pandemic as a condition of social distancing, it is legitimate to constantly define one's image to the outside world, according to what one thinks will make one attractive. "Dragon", a film born in the mind of the legendary writer Iakovos Campanellis and brought to life by the camera of Nikos Koundouros and the music of Manos Hadjidakis, is a film of 1956 that could narrate situations of Today.
A diabolical coincidence
"Dragon" tells the story of a lowly bank clerk, Thomas, who prepares to spend the New Year's holidays alone when he realizes with horror that he is identical to a villain the newspapers call "The Dragon". Due to the misunderstanding, the police chase him and he takes refuge in a cabaret. In a sequence of coincidences dressed in the noir half-light of nightlife, the gang that controls the cabaret, confronts the real Dragon and a dancer, the so-called Carmen (Marika Lekaki), likes and protects him.
There Thomas meets Roula (Margarita Papageorgiou), the "baby" as they call her, a young girl, orphaned after the bombing of Piraeus, who was picked up by Carmen and taken to the cabaret. The boss (Yiannis Argyris), "Fat" as they call him, is in love with the "baby", scolds her out of jealousy and won't let her leave his control. She is constantly moving with references to the romance of her "childish soul" and tries to find cracks to escape from the cabaret and the underworld, in which she is forced to move. The appearance of the "Dragon", i.e. Thomas, marks something new in her life. And while the people of the cabaret, the boss himself, treat him as the notorious villain and consider his qualities as a sign of cruelty, Rula, the "baby" sees in him a man different from the underworld, in which he is used to he lives. His presence attracts and comforts her.
"I wish you were a different person, an ordinary person, like everyone else," Rula confides to him, "Say I'm a simple bank clerk," Thomas replies happily. The plan to sell a pillar of Olympian Zeus to an American buyer and the involvement of the police will be the upheavals that will cause the harsh finale of this deeply existential story.
Awards and honors of a "deeply anti-Hellenic" story
Neither hymns from the public and the newspapers, nor even a relevant commercial appeal accompanied the first showing of the film in March 1956. Dinos Iliopoulos in the lead role, Thanasis Vengos (Spathis), Yiannis Argyris (Fat), Margarita Papageorgiou (To Moro), although they exemplarily colored a timeless story with their interpretations, they faced accusations from the newspapers Estia and Avgi about an "anti-Hellenic" scenario, even asking the public prosecutor to intervene. The film had no commercial impact in Greece, although its first showing at the Venice Film Festival was accompanied by a special mention. Today it is considered one of the 100 best European films of the 20th century (showing its teeth in the 21st century as well).
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