Psyhraimia (2007)
9/10
Fresh, animated, pragmatic! And adventurous...
30 May 2008
George, Hloi, Billis, Stavrakomanios and Papadakis are driving towards the Venizelos airport, at the same time, without knowing that their stories are part of one, bigger and involving their parents' story. Corruption, politics, media, drugs, prison system, health system, social standards of Modern Greek life-style in the 21st century exposed in a powerful way: this is not part of the night-life world, this is part of the Greek everyday reality. And the next generation is about to take some decisions.

Perakis shows for one more time how crucial and shameful social issues can be approached with wit and in a productively provocative way. What seemed to be "just another" modern-Greek comedy (first 10 minutes of the movie) is turning into a hopeful process.

Modern Greek society apart from struggling with an amalgam of historic and modern geopolitical forces and continuous changes seems to be unable to finalize its struggle for an identity for many decades now. Lacking the (sometimes externally imposed) heroism of the generations of the first half of the 20th century, the generations leading the country into the end of the 20th century seemed to have identified with a "balkanised" trio of values: money, media-fame and easy pleasure.

This is not news and "Psychraimia" is not the only movie addressing that. The news about this movie is the possibility that the emerging generations have somehow secure some remaining and healthy grounds to build a different and alternative future to the one that the previous generation has left. And, according to this movie, this is not possible only to the minority of the society that has been carrying the burden of the on-going corruption for the past decades in a peaceful but painful way either via the spiritual or cultural heritage; this becomes possible in the very heart of the rotting modern Greek leading society group.
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