Park (2016)

Directed by: Sofia Exarchou | 100 minutes | drama | Actors: Dimitris Kitsos, Dimitra Vlagopoulou, Thomas Bo Larsen, Enuki Gvenatadze, Lena Kitsopoulou, Yorgos Pandeleakis, Teo Angelov, Savvas Bakachashvili, Minella Balli, Adrian Frieling, Julio Katsis, Yorgos Monastiriotis, Don Nielsen, Robertosilber, Eff Papadoanoulosilber , David Szymczak, Goga Tsiklauri, Mario Tzutti, Nikos Zeginoglou

The Olympic Park in Athens, ten years after the Games. A group of young people, still children actually, scurry around bored. They fight with each other, flirt with girls and play with the countless street dogs. Adults are nowhere to be found, the children are the boss. They have a constant battle for survival among themselves. Whoever wins participates. Whoever loses starts again at the bottom of the hierarchical ladder. The line between their childishness and almost boundless ruthlessness is thin. The arid landscape of the park also symbolizes the desolation of their existence. God has left the terrain for good.

For Dimitris and his brother, however, the dilapidated park is home. Away from their alcoholic mother. Away from the belittling job at a marble company. And away from the ever partying tourists, with their hedonistic and trivial lives. Yet the hopelessness is beginning to take its toll. Surely there must be more to life than this endless hanging out. Although Dimitris is pushed to the limit at work – ten others before him – it does make money. In order to give his girlfriend Anna a better life, he hopes to find a new future elsewhere. But escaping this life seems an impossible task. His pent-up anger is slowly looking for an outlet.

‘Park’ shows a pitch-black picture of the Greek crisis. Men are foolish fighters. Women, in the eyes of their other half, are just an object of use, no better than the average stray dog. There is no room for sincere love. The chance of better work, if there is work at all, remains minimal. Adults are invisible, the youth left to their own devices. The West is literally looking away, drenched in copious amounts of alcohol.

Small moments of happiness should provide balance. But because ‘Park’ mainly observes and the real drama stays at a distance as a result, the melancholy dominates.
Because of that observant character, there is also little room for character development. The adventures of the characters don’t amount to much, they certainly don’t seem to learn from them. Life goes on in the same way. The hopelessness remains the only winner.