Smyrna

The destruction of a cosmopolitan city, 1900-1922

Soundtrack by Nikos Platyrachos for the movie by Maria Iliou.

Fairy tales often entail true stories. In the hands of Maria Iliou, however, a true story becomes a fairy tale, a poem, a confession. The destruction of Smyrna, which has so incurably marked our country, takes the form of a dream which unfolds beautifully and effortlessly. A dream comprising its own scents, flavors, music, days and nights, its people with their graces and weaknesses, until the tragic conclusion of this dream comes, the disastrous nightmare, with the reasons of its ending having simultaneously and objectively been embossed.