Greek “Meteora” in 62nd Berlinale

(Οriginal story in Greek by Inga Athanasiadou)

The 62nd Berlinale hosted the world premiere of the latest film of Greek director Spiros Stathopoulos, “Meteora”. The film joined the contest of the Berlin International Film Festival.

“Do you love like we do?” asks God in her prayers Ourania. The Russian nun is in despair. Her life is dedicated to God but her heart belongs to the Greek monk Theodoros from a neighboring monastery in Meteora.

There, up onto the bare rocks, getting in touch with Heaven is casting a shadow on everyday life. The dilemma emerges when Ourania and Theodoros meet each other in the plain in some lucky encounters.

And while in the beginning of the film you think this is the Middle Ages, suddenly farmers pop up wearing jeans, a broken car and plastic.

Direcotr Spiros Stathopoulos explains this choice of his: “The dilemma of living between the spirit and the body has been torturing humans for centuries. So, time in ‘Metoera’ is infinite. It is neither the past, nor the present, nor the future”.

The story evolves in four different stages. At first, the two protagonists are in complete despair over what they feel because they do not know how to deal with their growing emotions for each other.

Then comes the sin. The couple answers the dilemma by offending the oath to lead a life dedicated to God. Commiting the sin is necessary, however, to find redemption.

And this is the third stage. Their indulging in their emotions solves their life drama, which eventually leads them to the final stage of personal freedom.

The last scene of the film shows Ourania and Theodoros walking down together to the plain. And not as real persons but in the form of cartoon figures. This is a technique often adopted in the film.

“We use cartoons when we want to show the emotions and thoughts of our characters. Besides this, we use cartoon figures to create a world that could be their own; a world that is not real but exists only in their imagination” explains Mr. Stathopoulos.

In this imaginary world, you see Theodoros twisting nails in the palms of Jesus, His Blood flowing down from the wounds and flooding the whole world, while the two sinners are swimming in the Blood searching for redemption.