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Spanish Civil War in the construction of Neorealist Greek Cinema: an

introductorystudyofNikosKoundouros’ToPotami

SergioVillanuevaBaselga,UniversitatdeBarcelona

Abstract

ThefilmdirectorNikosKoundourosisoneofthemostimportantrepresentatives

oftheNeorealistGreekCinemathatbloomedinGreeceaftertheCivilWaroccurred

inthatcountryfrom1946to1949.Thisfilmmovementwashighlyinfluencedby

anotherwarconflict that tookplaceadecadebefore: theSpanishCivilWar.This

brief researchwill examine, through pictorial and semiotic analyses, the filmTo

Potami/TheRiver byNikosKoundouros toelucidatewhether this filmmakerwas

influencedbytheSpanishconflictandhowhetranslatedittohisfilm.Therefore,

thisprojectwillshedlighttothestudyofthecommonhistoricalgroundsofGreece

andSpainand,atthesametime,totheemergentfieldofSouthernEuropecultural

studies.

Keywords:SpanishCivilWar,GreekNeorealim,Filmsemiotics,SouthenEurope

Until threedecadesago, the conceptof ‘SouthernEurope’hadnoplace in

academic terminology. Nonetheless, with the advent of European integration,

many scholars began to notice that there existed striking similarities mainly

between Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece: economic backwardness, social

divisions,politicalinstabilityandsimilarpatternsofbehaviorwerebutafewofthe

common factors that linked them together. The almost simultaneous collapse of

thedictatorshipsinPortugal,GreeceandSpaininthemid-1970s,thetransitionto

democracyandthemovetowardstheEuropeanUnionconfirmedtheusefulnessof

thistermasacoherentunitofanalysis(Guntheretal,1995).

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Far from current academic trends, which argue for the importance of

nationalparticularitiesandculturalexceptionalisms,newhistoriansseekadeeper

understandingof the analogies, commonelementsbetweenhistoriesofdifferent

countries,andtheoftenunexpectedconnectionsthatshedlightoncross-national

phenomena. This is the case of Greece and Spain, two countries that have had

parallel histories, especially in the last century. Their respective CivilWars - in

Spain from1936to1939,and inGreece from1946to1949–constitutesomeof

theconvergingelementsof their commonhistories.Theeffectsof theseconflicts

on their respective national contexts are essential to understand most of their

currentproblemsandculturalspheres(Clogg1992;ParedesAlonso1998).

SpanishandGreekCivilWarsinNationalCinemas

BothCivilWarswereunderrepresentedintheirparticularnationalcinemas

untilveryrecently,duetocensorshipandtheimpositionofthewinners’versions

over the collective memory. In Spain, films about the Civil War that were not

supportive of the winners perspective were banned for forty years during the

Francoist dictatorship. The same censorship took place in Greece, where Greek

Civil War was not fictionalized until the end of the Coronels’ regime, in 1974

(Karalis,2012). Itwasonlyafter thisyearand therestorationofdemocracy that

thelong-lastingpost-CivilWareracametoaclose,atleastonaninstitutionallevel,

withthedecriminalizationofcommunismandtherehabilitationoftheexiledand

imprisoned left-wingers. Thus, it has often been argued that pre-dictatorship

Greek cinema suffered from stronghistorical amnesia since, as it has beenmost

commonly accepted, the actual national history, both recent and distant, was of

little concern, while the traumatic experience of the Civil War and its painful

consequenceswerecompletelyabsent(Vamvakidou2013;Korneis2014).

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ThepresenceofCivilWarsinbothSpanishandGreeknationalcinemashas

been widely studied (Fernández Cuenca 1976; Heredero 1993; Andritsos 2005;

Flitouris 2008). Meanwhile, cross-reflections of these conflicts in reciprocal

national cinemas have not been analyzed yet. As shown by Rodríguez Milán

(2007),Greekinterest intheSpanishCivilWarhasbeenhigherthantheSpanish

equivalentfortheGreekconflict.Inthisline,Fillipis(2008)carriedoutarevision

oftheinfluencethatSpanishCivilWarhadonGreekliteratureandshowedthat,for

instance, the publication in 1944 of Theballof theReaper by Teo Papamanolis,

GreekcorrespondentreporterinSpainduringtheCivilWar,hadagreatimpactin

theHelleniccountrythateveninfluencedgovernmentdecisions.Inrelationtofilm,

Chalkou (2008) points out that film festivals devoted to national cinemas took

placesporadicallyinthe1950s,includingtheFestivalofSpanishCinemainAthens,

andtheThessalonikiFilmFestivalin1951(Chalkou,2008:70).Therefore,onecan

inductivelythinkthatthereexistmorereferencestotheSpanishCivilWarinGreek

Cinemathanonthecontrary.

GreekpresenceinfictionsaboutSpanishCivilWargoesbackto1943,when

KatinaPaxinoumadeher filmdebut, not in aGreekproduction, but in a foreign

one:ForWhomtheBellTolls,directedbySamWood,wasaParamountfilmbased

on Hemingway’s novel of the Spanish Civil War. Paxinou won an Oscar for her

supportingroleinherportrayalofPilar(Tzavalas2012:57),beforetakingpart,in

1945,inthefilmConfidentialAgent,anadaptationofGrahamGreene’sstorysetin

theSpanishCivilWar(Tzavalas2012:59).

In post-war Greece, the limited treatment of historical themes and their

depiction from the nationalistic perspective are generally attributed to the poor

financial and technical capabilities of the Greek industry. In turn, this fact

Eliminado: However

Con formato: Fuente: Cursiva

Eliminado: films

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preventedhistoricalreconstructions,enforcingtheofficialideologythroughstrict

censorship, theproducers’ reluctance to riskbeingbanned (with thesubsequent

commercialfailure),andthedifficultyofdealingwithasubjectthatwassodivisive

andcontroversial.Nonetheless,someGreekdirectors-mostofwhomwerepartof

thebloomingofNeorealism-brokethesilenceinthe1950s.RovirosManthoulis’

filmPsilataHeriaHitler/HandsUpHitler(1962),andNikosKoundouros’outputs

OiParanomoi/TheOutlaws(1958)andToPotami/TheRiver(1960),weresomeof

themost important representativesofGreekNeorealismwhodaredspeakabout

the recent history of Greece and managed to elude censorship (Kolovos 2002:

162).

ThisintroductorystudyfocusesonthefilmToPotami/TheRiver(1960),by

NikosKoundouros, and sheds light, throughapictorial and semiotic analysis, on

how the Spanish Civil War had an impact on Greek Neorealism. The article

examinesthewaysinwhichToPotamicombinesstoriesofsoldiersandguerrillas

with aspects of Southern Europe history, expanding subjectivities beyond the

nationalborders.Methodologically,thisstudyisbasedontherecentlyestablished

paradigm that cinema and popular culture can inform a historical project. From

this perspective, cinema is not only an industry that includes companies,

producers,directorsandactors,butasocialinstitutionthatevolvesalongsidethe

societyinwhichitisproducedandviewed(Hadjikyriacou2013:1-2).

ToPotami/TheRiverbyNikosKoundouros

ToPotami/TheRiver, a film produced in 1959, was an adaptation of the

homonymousshortstorywrittenbyAntonisSamarakisandothershortstoriesby

IakovosKambanellis,NotisPeryialisandNikosKoundouros(Kalogeras2011:92;

see Figure 1). Having edited two versions of the film, there was a prolonged

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disagreement between the director of the film, Nikos Koundouros, and the

producers as to which of the two versions should be released. It was finally

releasedin1960,whenitalsoenteredintotheGreekFilmFestivalatThessaloniki.

Figure1.CaptionofthestartingcreditsofToPotami/TheRiver,indicatingthewriters’names(Notis

Peryialis,AntonisSamarakis,IakovosKambanellisandNikosKoundouros)

ToPotami/TheRiver(1960)tellsfourdifferentstories,allconnectedbythe

banksofariver,inwhichthreebandits,asoldier,thedaughterofaservicemanand

a couple in love find themselves escaping from their own conflicts. Theunifying

subject is, in fact, the escape from the boggy shores of that river. Nikos

Koundouros,inhisusualattempttocreatesomethingnovelandoriginal,strovefor

aproductthatwaslogicalandartistic“makingovertreferencestopicturesofthe

Spanish Civil War” (Karalis 2012: 78). To Potami/The River does not explicitly

depicttheGreekCivilWaroranyotherconflict,butusesanarrativethatisclosely

related to warlike fictions and symbolisms commonly associated with military

subjectivity. The film, moreover, opens with a tracking lateral shot that moves

from a cross that is pinned into the soil to an almost dry river in a deserted

Eliminado: was

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landscape,thatresemblesboththeThessalyplainandtheCastilianmeseta.These

twosymbolsre-appearintheinterlinkedhistoriespresentedinthefilm,building

thefoundationsoftheinternalandexternalconflictsofthemainprotagonists.

The cross and the river canbeunderstoodas themain symbols in thenarrative

constructionofthewar,intertwiningitspoeticlogicwithkeyelementsofboththe

SpanishandtheGreekCivilWars.Thecross,ontheonehand,directstheactionof

thethreebandits,whoaretornbetweenmilitaryactionandreligiosity.Thestory

of the three bandits is the one that speaksmore openly about the incongruous

attitudes that religiousmen andwomen had in both conflicts. The river, on the

otherhand,istheplacewherethethreebanditshidenotonlyfromthesoldiersbut

alsofromthemselves.Meanwhile,theriversavesthelittlegirlfrombeingtrapped

bytheentourageofhis father, themilitaryman,and italsokills thesoldierwho,

driven by his curiosity and disobeying his officer’s orders, decides to swim in it

before being discovered by the enemy. The river is understood, thus, as a

representationof trenches,boundariesandartificialbordersbuiltbyandagainst

civiliansincivilwars.

The stifling and drowning presence of the river -whichwas, by theway,

also present in Oi Paranomi/The Outlaws (1958) – provides the nexus that

connectsNikosKoundouros’masterpieceswiththeSpanishCivilWar.Itshouldbe

recalledthatnoneofthebattlesintheGreekCivilWartookplacebyariver,butin

mountainoustopographies,suchasthebattleofGrammos-Vitsi,whichputanend

to the Greek dispute. However, in the Spanish case, several rivers became the

setting of key military operations and dramatic events, such as the battles of

Jarama and Ebro, which had a significant international impact on left-wingers

acrossEurope.The compositions createdbyKoundouros inToPotami/TheRiver

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resemble the photographs taken by Robert Capa during those battles, perhaps

suggestingthatthisdirectorhadalreadyseentheseimages(seeFigure2).Besides,

theoriginal short storybyAntonis Samarakis the filmadaptedwaspublished in

1954 under the anthology Zitite Elpis/In search of hope which reflected the

depressingmoodofthehumanbeingaftertheSpanishCivilWarandWorldWarII.

Figure 2. A) Captions of the film To Potami/The River, in which the river has a significant

symbolism.B)PhotographstakenbyRobertCapaoftheBattleofEbroduringtheSpanishCivilWar.

Finally,anotheraspectthatpointstowardstheimpactthatthephotographs

of the Spanish Civil War had on Koundouros’ film is the character of the small

child. Dressed with a loose coat and shepherding a herd of bulls, this child

representstheoverwhelmingresponsibilityoftheSpanishSecondRepublic,which

has the duty to conduct the flock and protect a weak Spanish democracy (see

Figure3).

A

B

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Figure 3. The child and the herd of bulls as a symbol of the overwhelming responsibility of the

SpanishSecondRepublic.

DiscussionandConclusions

This article has succinctly outlined the influence that narratives and

photographsoftheSpanishCivilWarhadonthefilmToPotami/TheRiverbyNikos

Koundouros.Thedirectormayhavediscovered thesematerials in theexhibition

held in the 1951 edition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and in the different

publicationsaboutthewarthatwereproducedinthe1950s.Thisinfluenceisalso

present in the film The Outlaws/Oi Paranomoi (Karalis 2012: 78), making it

necessarytoextrapolatetheanalysisperformedinthisbriefstudytothisfilm.

This study follows many other recent Lacanian perspectives on Greek

cinema, such as Kosma’s (2012) psychoanalytic reading of Ta Kitrina

Gantia/YellowGloves,apopularfilmofthe1960s.Kosma’sreadingofthenarrative

reveals not only howpopular cinema functions as a space for thenegotiationof

genderedidentities,butalsohowitreproducestheculturalanxietiesofasocietyin

transition.Fromthesameperspective,AchilleasHadjikyriacouexamines the film

Stella, byCacoyanis,which represents the transformationofpatriarchy in1950s

Greece.Hadjikyriacouarguesthatthemasculinitiesincrisispresentedinthefilm

arenotchallengedbyanimportedmodernityinGreece.

CivilWarshavealsobeenanalysed followingapoststructuralist approach

(Vamvikidou2013;Kornetis2014).Kornetis, for instance,hasperformedapost-

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structuralist analysis of the Greek Civil War in the films PsyhiVathia/Asoul so

Deep(2009),byPantelisVoulgaris,andDemeniKokkiniKlosti/TiedRedThread,by

KostasCharalmbous.Kornetisarguedthatthesetwofilmssymbolizethetransition

fromacinemaof reconciliation, thatwaspromotedaround2008, toa cinemaof

vengeance and ultra-violence, that became inextricably linked to the general

politicalreconfigurationofthecountrysincethecivilunrestof2008andtheonset

oftheeconomiccrisis.

Nuria Triana-Toribio argues, in relation to Francoist Spanish National

Cinema,that

in Freud’s model of the unconscious, desires and drives which are

incompatiblewith thedominantpsychical systemarepushedoutof sight,

censored by consciousness; however, these desires can never be fully

eliminated, andreturn, afterundergoingcondensationordisplacement, in

distortedorunrecognizableforms(Triana-Toribio2003:97).

Therefore,accordingtothisview,political issuesandthemesthatwereexcluded

fromGreekcinemaduetocensorshipruleseventuallybecamepresentagain.This

analysishasshownsomeofthewaysinwhichtheSpanishCivilWarwaspresent

in the impulse to break the norm established by the post-civil war regime in

Greece, through the construction of warlike narratives in Nikos Koundouros’

Neorealistcinema.

Aknowledgements

Thisbriefstudywouldhavebeenimpossiblewithouttheenthusiastichelpof

TeresaMagadanandKleriSkandamifromtheModernGreekDepartmentat

Barcelona-DrassanesEscolaOficiald’IdiomesandthesupportofSchoolofModern

GreekLanguageoftheAristotleUniversityofThessaloniki.Iwouldalsoliketo

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thankLydiaSánchezGómezfromUniversitatdeBarcelonaforherreviewsofthe

textandforencouragingmetoperformthisresearch.

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