Eleni Page #3

We will teach her. You've two days

together, then she's ours.

- Mana...

- Sh!

We're at war and those are orders.

Anyone who disobeys will be

dealt with accordingly. Understood?

We will obey your orders.

Mana!

Mana, don't let them take me away...!

What do you think I can do?

Olga.

They had to do this in the old days.

The Ottoman Turks came

gathering all the boys for their armies.

To save them,

their mothers cut off their fingers.

Sometimes they gouged out

one of their eyes.

I won't be a cripple, will I?

I'll never marry if...

(OLGA SCREAMS)

No, Mana!

Where is your husband, Mother?

Where is my father?

Where is her father and my husband?

Where are our men?

Have I been told lies all my life?

Eleni! You're a woman,

you're forgetting your place!

Is this my place, Mother,

to torture my own child?

Is it my place to stay behind?

Always to stay behind

when our men run off?

In return for what?

Mana!

No!

They put me in charge

of food supply, so I...

- How could you?

- They were going to take her!

They? What they?

- I've tried to save my child!

- These are our own people.

Don't! My child...

Yes. But not some animal to be hobbled.

Get out! Take your food

and your advice and get out!

(HER SOBBING CONTINUES)

Olga Gatzoyiannis is requested to join

the People's Democratic Army.

Major Skevis... please.

My daughter is so clumsy,

she spilled boiling water on her leg.

She can hardly stand.

Remove the bandages.

You should teach your daughter

to be more careful, Americana.

All unmarried girls over 15 may

join the People's Democratic Army.

Have your daughter Glykeria

prepare to leave.

And be careful, Americana,

no more accidents.

(ACCORDION PLAYS LIVELY TUNE)

(INAUDIBLE)

(HE WHISTLES)

You must be the famous

Tasso Levendis.

I hear that if you want a woman

you're the man to see.

I know some women, yes.

Money's no object.

I know a lot of women.

Let's get in my car and take a drive.

You have a car.

- You've missed a turn there.

- I want to go home first for more money.

(TYRES SCREECH)

Where's your home?

A little village called Lia.

Lia? Are you crazy?

It's over 50 kilometres from here!

You know the place?

You've been there before?

Hey, what's going on?

Who the hell are you?

I wouldn't do that if I were you,

unless you want to bounce.

(TAPE CLICKS ON)

- I saw that man.

- What man?

That guerrilla who led the prisoners

to the execution site.

- Are you sure it was him?

- I really wasn't.

So I talked to him and he said

he was stationed in our village.

Do you know his name?

Tasso Levendis.

Get out.

(CLICKS DOOR LOCKS)

- (ENGINE STARTS)

- (GUNSHOT)

I was not on the execution squad.

I just brought the prisoners to the site.

Your mother had a trial.

The judge ordered her confession.

The judge sentenced her to death.

It was legal!

- She was tortured.

- Torture, too, was legal!

- Who gave the order?

- The same judge.

- His name?

- His revolutionary name was Katis.

- I don't know his name!

- Where is he?

I don't even know if he's alive!

- Where did he hide after the war?

- Czechoslovakia, when we lost the war.

Some people from your village

went with us.

- Where in Czechoslovakia?

- Bratislava!

(JEERING LAUGH)

It's too late!

Even if you find him, you won't find him.

You'll find an old man

who used to be Katis.

Just like you found me, an old pimp,

who used to be a soldier!

If you live long enough,

it seems you cease to exist!

You're too late!

We're all dead and gone!

(MAN) One, two, three, four...

(WOMAN) One, two, three, four...

(WOMAN) Quicker! Quicker!

(WOMAN)... three, four...

Careful!

(RAPID GUNFIRE)

Who are you?

Eleni Gatzoyiannis,

wife of Christos, from Lia.

- Come with us, you're saved.

- I can't. My children.

No! No! My children!

These people you're looking for,

they're relatives?

Well, relatives and friends

from my village.

I've been told that they fled here

after the Greek Civil War.

Yes, we have many Greeks living here.

Too many.

First, we kept the records in order,

but as you can see...

If you find any relatives,

take them with you.

(SPEAKING GREEK)

Next!

Name?

Gatzoyiannis.

Go ahead.

Next!

Move on!

(GENERAL MUTTERINGS)

Comrades.

Comrades!

I welcome you in the name

of the Democratic Army of Greece.

Mothers of Lia,

your children are in danger.

The fascist government's attacks

on your village will continue.

If your children are not killed

by bombs or bullets...

they'll die slowly from starvation.

What little food we have left

has to be rationed out to our fighters.

But... because of

the party's great concern

and love for your children,

our leaders have found

a way to save them.

We've called you all here today

to announce

that the People's Democracies

of Albania and Czechoslovakia

have opened their arms to your children.

They will take them,

care for them, feed them well.

And educate them to become

lawyers, doctors, engineers.

Whatever their talents permit.

And when the civil war is over

and the red flag flies,

they will come back to you,

tall, healthy, happy.

Ready to take their place

in the new Greece.

Who will be the first

to volunteer her children?

Who will be the first?

Katina, for the love of God!

We have our first patriotic mother.

Katina Skevis.

You wish to volunteer, Comrade Skevis?

Yes.

I would like to volunteer some advice

to you, Mr Comrade-ln-A-Blue-Suit.

My husband died in the war,

fighting for your cause.

I carried on the dream

he whispered to me once in the night

of a better life for my children.

My children.

Not yours.

Not the party's.

Not the People's Democracies

of Albania or anywhere.

Mine.

No mother will give up her children.

There are no volunteers... here.

(INAUDIBLE)

(MURMURING)

(GASPS)

Mothers of Lia,

you know your children are hungry.

Your children can eat like this...

...every day...

...if you let them go.

Any child who steps forward

at this moment...

...can have as much bread and

marmalade as he or she can eat.

- Mana, I'm so hungry.

- No.

Left the country. Albania.

Dead.

Left the country. Soviet Union.

She's still here.

Not as pretty as she was in the picture.

Dead.

Left the country.

Where?

It doesn't say.

- When?

- It doesn't say.

- Was he a friend or a relative?

- A friend of the family.

It says here he had no identification

on him. What was his full name?

I just remember him by Katis.

He's probably dead.

I'm going off duty.

If you want, I can tell you

where to find that woman.

Yes?

I'm looking for Ana Katroubis.

Who are you?

Nick... Nikola Gatzoyiannis.

- Eleni's son?

- Yes.

What do you want from me?

You must know I didn't do it on purpose.

I was forced to testify against

your mother. You must know that.

Yes, I... I knew that.

I didn't come here

to blame you for anything.

I did it to save my son.

The judge, he told me I had to join

the guerrillas, to be a soldier.

My baby would have died.

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