Rembetiko

An oustanding, a real breakthrough film by Costas Ferris: the story of rembetika singer (based on true facts of various artists). Voted Most popular Greek film ever in 2000, Silver Bear Award (Berlin Film Festival); Valencia Film Festival; Alexandria Film Festival etc...

Rembetika (or rebetika) was known in Greece and Minor Asia since last century (perhaps even earlier), but after the exodus of Greeks from Turkey in the 20s, thousands of people had to settle in extreme poverty and under almost non-human conditions... The underworld was born - with pimps, criminals, smugglers,spivs, prostitutes, junkies and drug dealers... That was the music of the underworld created under strong influence of music tradition of Minor Asia and Middle East and, very often, not without influence of hashish. That was a Greek equivalent of urban blues - if I may say so. That was a broken soul and a bleeding heart crying - without any hope and with only wish to forget the misery of existence for an instance.

The soundrack (music by Stavros Xarhakos)is heartbreaking.

Although music is a universal language which usually doesn't need translation, quite often you might need to know the background and understand the words - otherwise you deprive yourselves. That's a must with rembetika.

If you wish to understand better, buy also a book by Elias Petropoulos "Songs of the Greek underworld: The Rebetika Tradition" (the best ever written) -Songs Of The Greek Underworld: The Rebetika Tradition.
As the film success pushed Costas Ferris into further research of rembetika, he managed to produce a musical show, which toured around the world. Although they didn't perform the real rembetika, the "updated" versions were more acceptable for the general (ignorant) audience. So, another CD "Apopse stou Thoma" (recorded for Costas Ferris show, and released in 1991 on Astria/Fabelsound in Greece) is highly recommended. Other CDs/DVDs of Ferris show might be available as well. Try alsoRembetika: Greek Music From the Underworld - a real treat.

Regretfully, beyond the borders of Greek-speking community, Costas Ferris is not enough known. It is necessary to mention that as early as 60s he was already one of the most promising directors of the new wave of Greek cinema, among whose early works there was a documentary (1966) about "Formynx" - the first band formed by Vangelis. In 1968, while in exile in France, they've met again, and at that time Ferris was working on totally innovative counter-culture documentary. The one whom he approached to compose film score was Vangelis. Vangelis didn't compose the music, but Ferris wrote the "screenplay" (or concept) and the lyrics for the last album of "Aphrodite's Child" - 666: Apocalypse of St John. Costas Ferris has a very special relation with music - his lyrics are used on the solo album of another member of "Aphrodite's Child" - Loucas Sideras, and on the album of Greek cult prog-band - "Akritas (Akritas).
P.S. If you have a chance don't miss "Cafe Aman" (see the image) which captures the spirit of Ferris live show, and pay special attention to 8 DVDs and 8 CDs set of Costas Ferris documentaries "The History of Rebetika" (re-issued in 2009 by Victory - as shown on the image).

I saw Rembetiko two times in the 80ies and was fascinated. The raw power of the story about a famous singer of Rembetiko with its thrilling music haunted me for a long time. Hence I was very happy to finally find the DVD on Amazon.

So now seeing the movie again (in its original long-version) I sadly have to admit that it has aged - not to its advantage.

The quality of the DVD transfer is quite poor, the English translation somewhat bad and the movie itself too long. The shorter version - as I remember it - was much more powerful. The acting is cheesy sometimes. Why the singer gets so famous isn't really understandable. The documental material doesn't enlighten you about the political situation.

If it weren't for the wonderful music the movie wouldn't stand a chance. So all in all it's 3 stars. Though still worthwhile watching, it lets you appreciate, that movie-making and story-telling made big progress in the last 27 years.

I've had the soundtrack to this movie on 33rpm for years now. When my wife and I cook dinner we like music matching the cuisine we are making. This soundtrack is the best. The movie takes the music into an incredible though fictional story of the lives of musicians that fled Smyrna and went to Greece. Though based on real musicains, the story outcome is quite different from truth,. Nonetheless, it is harrowing, and the music is wonderful. Recommended for any true lover of Greek music.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews  3.8 out of 5 stars