The Ogre of Athens

Once voted the greatest Greek film of all time by the Greek Film Critics Association, Koundouros’ most famous work uses a familiar Hitchcockian story of mistaken identity to criticise post-World War II Greece’s culture of relentless political persecution. Scripted by the prominent playwright Iakovos Kambanellis, himself a survivor of the Mauthausen concentration camp, the film’s noirish atmosphere of fluid forms and illusionary spaces is enhanced by the lens of cinematographer Costas Theodorides (Stella) and the music of Koundouros’ close friend Manos Hatzidakis (Never on Sunday).