NEMESIS (George Stamboulopoulos, 1979)
Category: Cinema > Screenplays
| Writer: | George Stamboulopoulos |
|---|---|
| Date: | 1979 |
| Genre: | History | Drama |
Censorship incidents
| 1979-01-24 | Rejection of the screenplay NEMESIS (George Stamboulopoulos, 1979) by the First-Degree Review Board
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| 1979-02-12 | Rejection of the screenplay NEMESIS (George Stamboulopoulos, 1979) by the Second-Degree Review Board
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| 1979-04-10 | The Ministry of the Presidency gives permission for scenes of the screenplay NEMESIS (George Stamboulopoulos, 1979) to be shot on specific conditions
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Description
The screenplay NEMESIS was based on a real incident of vigilante justice that occurred in Crete in October 1945: Five members of the Somarakis family were tried and four convicted by the Iraklion Special Collaborators Court of being responsible for denouncing 35 inhabitants of the village of Sarchos in 1944, and for their subsequent execution by the Germans. The two daughters of the family, Charikleia and Maria, were accused of consorting with the Germans during the Occupation; the latter was alleged to have had an affair with the journalist and editor of the pro-Nazi newspaper Kritikos Kyrix [Cretan Herald], Petros Varvoglis, a person particularly hated in the region because of his association with the occupiers and his activities as a black marketeer. The trial of the five members of the Somarakis family began on 29 October 1945. The two main perpetrators, Charikleia and Maria, were sentenced to death and life imprisonment respectively, the mother and eldest son were given prison sentences of four and a half and three years respectively, while the youngest son, being a minor, was acquitted. The verdict did not satisfy public sentiment, which demanded the death penalty for the entire family. As a result, shortly after the verdict was read aloud, the crowd that had gathered took matters into their own hands: relatives and co-villagers of the victims stormed the court, slaughtered the entire family using knives and threw their bodies into the street. NEMESIS was presented as a loose cinematic reconstruction of the events modeled on the structure of ancient tragedy.
The screenplay was rejected in early 1979 by both the First-Degree and the Second-Degree Review Boards on the grounds that it ‘is contrary to public order and religion, goes against the principle of forgetting that aims to achieve national unity, stirs up political passions and, in general, offends the public sentiment of Greek citizens.’
After the uproar caused by the screenplay’s rejection, the Ministry of the Presidency was forced to review the decision and on 10 April 1979 gave permission for scenes to be shot, though on specific conditions. Stating that “because the refusal to grant permission in this particular case could give the impression that an attempt is being made to conceal an aspect of Greek history, even if this aspect is not of any more general significance”, the Ministry gave its permission on condition that:
a) At the beginning of the film the viewers are informed that the events portrayed actually took place in Iraklion, Crete, during the Occupation and the first post-Liberation year.
b) This information is repeated at the end of the film.
c) The authorities (the prefect and others) during the Occupation will not be the same individuals as their counterparts post-Liberation — unless the screenwriter presents characters with their real names.
According to Stamboulopoulos, the General Secretary of Press and Information at the time, Nikolaos Delipetrou, told him during a meeting that, even if the film were shot, it would not receive a screening permit. The screenplay was never filmed.
Penelope Petsini
Sources – Bibliography
- ELIA/MIET, Archive of the Performing Arts, G. Stamboulopoulos Archive.
- Eleftherotypia, 23/02/1979.
- Proini, 02/02/1979.
- Rizospastis, 22/02/1979.
- To Vima, 28/02/1979.
CIVIL Publications
- Petsini P., "Nemesis: Politics of ‘Forgetting’, Collaborationism and Censorship in the Post-Dictatorship Period" in Andreas Maratos (ed.) 1821-2021: Μνήμες τεχνών – Θραύσματα ιστορίας, Athens: Nikos Poulantzas Institute – Nisos Publications, 2021.
- Petsini P., “From the Cooling of Political Passions to Right-Wing Culture: Battles of memory and political censorship in the post-dictatorship period”, Archeiotaxio 22 (November 2020).
