Name: Evropi, to oneiro
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2018-03-07
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Rating: 6.4
Cast: Mohammed Alrifaae, Amin Gholami, Evi Gotsopoulou

This film follows the lives of three adolescents who live in Patra, Greece. One of them is a native Greek, the other two are refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. Their stories are juxtaposed on the same basis: that they're all young with dreams about the future, but various problems prevent them from fulfilling them. And this is why the movie starts off on the wrong foot.

While the 2 young refugees have already fled their war-stricken countries, on their own, away from their families, in search of a better future, in an attempt to build their lives in foreign countries, with no-one but themselves to count on, the Greek youngster, comfortable in his family home, moans about not being able to go out for a coffee with his friends or grab something to eat as often as he wants, due to the financial difficulties his parents are facing - which he appears too busy to care about, while pursuing a career as an actor.

It is apparently unintentional that the Greek teenager's indifference to his family's problems (his parents need to remind him several times that he has to get a job) is presented in stark contrast to the images of young refugees living in abandoned factories and attempting to escape as stowaways hidden under some truck, because the directors somehow fail to stress that distinction between the anxiety to lead a proper life and someone's ambition to become an actor. To them, they are all problems, however grave or not. There is not even a hint of irony in the images we see to suggest the superficiality of the problems faced by a person who has a home and a family supporting them.

And, in the end, despite the directors' obvious good intentions, this comes across as vulgar.

Greek cinema draws on myth, politics, and allegory, often using surrealism and symbolism to explore identity and collective memory. The Weird Wave brought absurdism and dark humor to the fore. Recent Greek films often depict austerity, personal struggle, and resilience with raw emotional power and stark visual storytelling, reflecting contemporary Greek life.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Europe, the Dream' a documentary about three adolescents who are/were living in Patras, Greece: Andreas, a young Greek, Ali Reza, a refugee from Afghanistan and Abdulla, a refugee from Syria; they are each dreaming of a great journey to Europe, and, with all their hopes and fears, they are struggling to make this happen as they see it as the only solution for their lives.They don't consider Greece as Europe! The two refugees have in fact managed to reach their destinations: Ali Reza in Sweden and Abdulla in Austria.Andreas is still in Greece. He wants to study and work but his family has day to day problems which have been heightened by the Greek financial crisis. Will these three young men be able to realize their dreams or these dreams will be thwarted by the difficulties and complexities that exist in today's Europe.

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Evropi, to oneiro

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