A retired diplomat has begun writing a historical novel about the legendary Captain Meϊtanos, who lived in the 17th century. Initially, he was a klepht (bandit), then an armatolos (member of irregular forces), then a klepht again, until finally winding up in the Ottoman hangman’s noose. Captain Meϊtanos was described by monks who lived for many years after his death, recounting his activities and passing on his story. Memories are revived; snatches of a story and mystery emerge, such as that of a holy icon painted in 1715 by the iconographer Vaϊos – an icon which adds additional color and detail to this story.
Two prisoners escape from the prison and they end up hidding in a small remote village trying to cross the borders.
souvlaki seller
The film is the story of a group of soldiers, who, in the course of their compulsory military service in 1967 and 1968, before and during the military dictatorship in Greece, are assigned to the then recently founded Armed Forces Television. This TV station, founded for the civilian population, was run by the Cinematographic Unit of the army which until then had only produced propaganda films and newsreels and was responsible for entertaining the troops and other charity organizations with movie screenings. The personnel was composed mostly of soldiers, who already had experience in the film business in their civilian lives, as well as those who received their training in the army. The story may be only 95% true, but that is simply because the true story is even more absurd...
"Arpa-colla" in Greek literally means "Grab and stick", a phrase used to show something that has been done quickly and therefore isn't good enough. This is what the 2 main heroes of the film are doing. The one is a director(Giorgos) and the other an author(Kostas) with communistic ideas, who has won a prize at a festival. They both want to make a movie for the cinema. But every idea they have never comes true, because every time they meet someone to whom they tell their idea, they change their mind, and they want to make a totally different movie, ideas varying from political cinema to Greek historical dramas and modern films with motorcycle gangs. Not a bad attempt for the Greek cinema of the early 80's, which starts to wake up from the hibernation of the 70's.
