Black Seed (1971)
The story of Macedonian soldiers who were captured by the Greek army and taken to the prison camps on Greek islands during Greek Civil War in 1946. Suspected of being communists, they are maltreated by the Greek officers running the camp
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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Though the plot deals with a very powerful story, it manages to turn it into a cliché of good versus evil. No human component was there. Only villainous foot-soldiers taking pleasure from tormenting docile and good-hearted victims. The movie is simplistic to the point of mocking the tragic story by turning it into a caricature. It contends with many cold-war propaganda B-movies. OK to watch if you're into brainless depictions of good versus evil stories, but otherwise very poor. Even though the characters were pretty shallow, the acting was generally good. The lack of soundtrack also added to accentuating some of the scenes. The mention of awards though is honestly surprising.
This movie made from a wonderful book with the same name(Black Seed)give us a look of how were treated the Macedonian prisoners in the Greek Civil War after the World War 2.it is beautiful because it is so real,and the public could feel the exodus of those people.the director himself didn't want to include a music in the film so the only sound that we could hear in all of in is rolling of the stones.the film won the Grand Prix at Pula Festival in Croatia and the director was named as one of the young directors who could give a great hope to the Macedonian and Europe Cinematography,but he only made four movies.For the end I would like to mention all the roles in the movies(especially the main one)are marvelous and some of them have been awarded at different Film Festivals.
how come this movie has not as many as 5 voters when it is 10 times better than anything sodherberg has done? well, probably because of the lousy distribution and the fact that it is Macedonian (maybe it's the same thing). however, this movie has been made out of a brilliant book, without any greater disturbances and it is worth the time you will spend with it. i don't believe that anybody will read this review, but if there is someone like that, consider that it was nominated for an oscar.
It's 1946. Civil war in Greece is just over. Communists, the leaders of the resistance, are defeated. The winning forces and the new authorities are settling accounts with the enemies - communists. They are closing them into concentration camps. One of the camps is on stone island with no water and plants where the cruel sun is burning the ground. Between campers are also three Macedonians. Not the best Macedonian movie but still worth of looking.