Eleni

A film set in Greece and America. Nick Gage is a journalist. He works at the New York Times. He grew up in America. But he was born in Greece. He wants one thing. To learn how his mother died. He leaves his job and goes to Greece. From there the film runs two times at once. The past is a mountain village in 1948. The civil war is going on. Eleni Gatzoyiannis lives with her four children. Her husband is in America; he tries to send money and cannot come back. The village is held by communist partisans. A policy begins. The children will be gathered and sent across the border. The mother opposes it. She plans an escape. She will get the children out in secret. The plan partly works. The children go. Eleni stays. She is caught. A trial is held and she is shot. In the present Nick looks for the people who ran that trial. He goes to the village. He looks at records. He finds surviving witnesses. Some talk. Some do not remember. In the end he finds a name. The man is still alive and lives in Athens. What the narrative is interested in is not revenge but a meeting: its idea is that Nick carried an account for years and does not know what to do when he finds the man. The narrative tells the civil war from one side, and that caused argument in Greece. The source is Nicholas Gage's own book. He genuinely carried out this search and the book came out of it. The screenplay is by Steve Tesich. Kate Nelligan plays Eleni. John Malkovich plays Nick. It was shot in real Greek villages. Peter Yates directed. Kate Nelligan, John Malkovich, Linda Hunt and Oliver Cotton are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes political drama based on real events. Who it is not for: anyone expecting balance; the narrative simplifies the complexity of the civil war and is open to a one-sided reading.