Timely tribute to anti-war films
The war against Iraq might be drawing to a close, yet it has had a profound effect on the rest of the world – on all those who watched the terror on their television sets away from the actual battlefields, as cynical as this may sound. This is the conscience of the real world, a world that is old and new at the same time and which, without any logical explanation, is constantly caught up in the web of warfare, of fanaticism and of injustice. This is the message that the organizers of Anti-War Cinema Week are trying to get across with a tribute that started on Friday and will run until Thursday at Athens’s Asty Cinema on central Korai Street. The Greek Social Forum has organized a tight week’s schedule of 19 films in an effort to carry pro-peace feelings, lately strongly expressed in protests, beyond slogans and marches. The films either narrate or attempt to explain critical moments in contemporary world history. The Vietnam War meets Nazi terror, the Great War of the barracks is being shown alongside May ’68 in Paris and the movement against globalization is contrasted with the Mexican revolution. The tribute started with Mikhail Romm’s «Daily Fascism,» which deals with the phenomenon of fascism and its lethal consequences, and with Mario Monicelli’s «La Grande Guerra,» narrating the adventures of two poor slobs who have been assigned to the front lines. What stands out from the rest of the program is «Genova 2001» – to be shown in Greece for the first time – a collective work by a team of Italian directors, under the supervision of Ettore Scola and Francesco Maselli, about the mass protests against globalization. «Genova 2001» will be shown tonight at 8 p.m. On Thursday, the tribute’s finale will focus on the Third World, with screenings of Paul Leduc’s «Reed: Insurgent Mexico» and Gillo Pontecorvo’s «The Battle of Algiers,» which will be followed by a discussion of «The World: History, Politics, Revolution, Cinema.» Asty Cinema, 4 Korai, tel 210. 322.1925.
