The Island

On the Greek island of Sifnos, the death of a respected local brings up everything that has been accumulating under the town for years. Who gets the inheritance, who owes what to whom, who is hiding what from whom. From the mayor to the priest, from the police chief to the schoolteacher, everyone has an account to settle and something to keep quiet; even the funeral becomes a matter for negotiation. Christos Dimas takes a postcard island and tells the rot underneath it as comedy. Nobody is entirely bad and nobody comes out clean; everyone has a reason and the reasons cancel each other out. The familiar crowded ensemble of Greek provincial comedy works here in a darker register. The more beautiful the landscape, the smaller what the people do.