Original subtitles

We greatly thank Reverend Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria,

the Hellenic Army General Staff and the Military Division of Kastoria

for their valuable help during the shooting of our film

The film is dedicated to the known and unknown Greeks who with their blood

wrote the epic of 1940-1941

God, how I love him!

At daybreak on October 26th there was a heavy rainfall.

Then silence spread.

In the guardhouse by the bridge lived five of us soldiers and the sergeant.

It took us time to get to know one another but then we became a family.

Stratos!

Where to, so early?

To the river.

The girl, eh?

Alright, go ahead.

In the guardhouse, we all loved him.

Every morning he'd set out for the river.

In the evenings, after guard he sat all alone thinking.

Sergeant never told him a word.

Hey, Thanassis!

Sergeant wants you.

What's with you, Thanassis?

What happened?

What is it?

I got a letter from the village.

Mother tells me to drop everything and go back.

Because my sister sits in the yard all day long, without a word but crying.

Why does she cry?

Her fiance left her.

He asked for two acres and there was none.

And I told him before leaving. Be patient, Stelios.

Till my service is over.

What do you know...

Sofia!

What is it?

- Come and talk. - Coming.

My mother, my sister and I

were left to work the land when father died.

We come every morning

and go when the sun goes.

- Hi Yiorgis! - Hi.

- Another Sunday gone, eh? - Gone, teach...

- You'll be released soon. - Counting the days. How's your girl?

- She's fine. - Got a letter? What does she say?

She awaits you, eh?

- Bye. - Bye.

Hey, girl!

Good morning!

Hello!

I know, you won't say anything again.

I come here asking you and you don't speak a word.

Why don't you speak?

Tell me what's your name?

Mine is Stratos.

I have a sister your age.

She's getting married at Christmastime.

Say something!

All this time I love you.

I love you!

Me coming every day and you never saying a word!

It's a sin!

You hear me? A sin!

I understand why you don't speak.

That's what a girl should do.

Please, tell me your name.

I'll come to your father and ask for you.

You look auburn-haired.

Like my mother.

Wait!

Don't go!

Hold it!

Hold it!

Wait!

Don't go, I say!

Wait!

- He came again and called out. - What did he say?

He's called Stratos. He wanted my name, too.

He chased me through the river.

Says he'll come to my father and ask for me.

Is he good-looking?

What happened?

Not even a word she spoke.

What's in her letter?

She's about to have the baby.

She's a school teacher, in a village near Thessaloniki.

He told him that Ancient Greeks were six metres tall.

What are you saying, said the other man.

I saw Diakos in a dairy at my village and he was that short...

- What did he say then? - Nothing.

The next day

a war began.

My beloved child,

today at 6 am, war sirens echoed all over Athens.

Afraid, mostly for you my son, a soldier there at the borderline

I ran out into the streets

and so

I heard that the Italians declared war on us

because when they asked to pass through borders we cried out "no"!

The people are swarming in the streets

dancing and singing as if it's not a war they're going to

but some great festivity.

The air resonates with speeches

songs and hails.

Embraced by the people as tight as I am

I felt fright gradually leaving my heart.

At the city centre

like a river the people were flowing down

carrying placards and singing anthems

and as I saw the vehicles with soldiers starting out to warfare

my eyes grew teary with longing.

Sonny,

take my wishes where you're going.

I'll pray to God day and night

that bullets will go past you, so that one day I'll be granted....

Be careful, my Yiangos...

Don't be hit by a bullet and miss out on your youth...

For you're a young lad and it's a shame...

In the eternity of the epic five people were five moments...

The teacher, the postman, the sergeant, Stratos and Yangos,

leave the guardhouse where we met them and fight for the Country.

Like a raindrop from the Sky of Glory, This is their little story.

Warfare separated us into different units.

When we left, the guardhouse was deserted.

None of us had any news about the others' condition.

I can't believe it's true, Vangelis.

Last night we lit a fire and had a chat with the teacher.

- Now he's lying like that... - The bastards got him.

Won't be long now for the rascals. We'll push them into the sea, soon.

I was walking down with Vangelis.

The mountain surgery is still far away.

I doubt anyone will be there.

The fastest we can.

To get there before dark.

Save the teacher who's badly wounded.

Want to change places?

- Won't it still be the same? - You're right.

Perhaps you want a short stop?

Not really helpful. The other one will soon be frozen, too.

Let's take a look at him.

He's breathing heavily but I can't hear him.

Hey, teacher. Hear me?

- He doesn't hear? - He doesn't.

Are you in pain, teacher?

Mussolini, you sucker...

None of you will be spared...

You and Italy...

your ridiculous homeland

you're all scared of khaki...

(One of the most popular songs of the war period in Greece)

Nobody here?

Where did they go?

How should I know? They must have moved ahead.

Come on.

What shall we do?

Walk down to the road and wait for a vehicle.

Let's go before dark.

- Why don't you speak, Nikiforos? - What is to say?

Say something.

Those that make the war

have they seen this?

Which one?

This...

This solitude.

I think I heard something...

An automobile...

Look that way!

It'll show up on the road.

There... Over there... Over there, Nikiforos!

- See anything? - Nothing!

Have a look at him...

- Gone? - Gone.

Eh, teacher...

Sweet mother...

I'm writing from the trenches.

Ever since the first day of war, I've only seen victories

Italians run away as soon as they see us.

If not for this heavy winter in our way

we'd surely have pushed them into the sea by now.

But all this snow is a huge obstacle.

Mules move with great difficulty

and when we have to climb a peak

we carry our supplies on our shoulders.

Frozen wind and snow are worse an enemy than the cockfeathered ones.

Frostbite more deadly than their lead.

But when rushing ahead with a bayonet we forget all about them.

Our crying "AERA" fills the air and makes the enemy run away.

Airplanes and artillery come to our support in these combats.

The enemy's losses are quite often heavy.

Throughout the front from side to side, our army marches fast ahead.

Bit by bit,

peak to peak,

our Northern Epirus is becoming Greek again.

Yesterday

we marched triumphantly into Korytsa.

Its people greeted us with enthusiasm.

The streets wherever we passed were full of huzza shouts.

My mother,

I'm a winner. Can you feel what this word means?

Two days ago, our sublieutenant was killed.

The sergeant took over in his place.

WIth him now

we walk on the snow and mud for endless hours.

Our eyelids heavy with sleeplessness.

Wild hunger blurs the mind.

Within the horrible frost of Albanian winter.

Tell me, why are you always the last one in line?

Can't help it, sergeant. A 7-hour walk...

17! Move on!

Don't get smart with me.

That's the slope.

Has no name.

We'll wait a while.

Nobody sit. All of you stay standing.

How are we?

How indeed...

Just fine.

I'd like a word with you.

Like what, sergeant?

I heard you're a learned man.

Yes.

I was.

What's with "was"?

Are you not still?

In war, it's just the same.

You say this because...

'Cause what?

Then say...

Are you afraid or not?

I don't give a dime.

You don't look good. What's wrong?

What indeed... Leaky boots.

Let me see.

The other one, too?

Yes, the other one too.

Let me see it.

You'll get new ones up there.

A brave man, our sergeant.

One day he caught 11 Italians himself.

It's almost daybreak.

Yes. Shortly we'll attack.

Will it be soon now?

Yes. Soon enough.

Come round here.

Come on.

It is now.

We must get them.

We'll go up there, spearheads on.

They're hidden back there.

Even if we all get killed.

Come on, brave ones.

Aera!

Bravely attack them!

My beloved one,

instead of a kiss, I'm sending you my song of glory from the front.

Victories come in line. Pogradec, Argyrokastro,

Agioi Saranta, Cheimara, Kleisoura,

and now fighting hard for Tepeleni.

Two weeks ago, entering March,

Mussolini launched a big counterattack along the front.

With aircrafts, tanks and artillery

he's battering our lines all day long.

Battles are now harder than ever.

Slopes are covered with blood.

Each one of us has become a hero.

Every battle an epic making.

Where've you been Benito?

Hidden in the cave...

Why not come a bit further down?

I'm scared of tsolias!

Also, compared to the immensly superior enemy forces

we're constantly moving ahead, more slowly of course, more strenuously

but we are moving ahead!

The war turned me into a postman

I moved around units on horseback, I delivered and received letters.

I went all around the mountains and came back down.

The battalion was at an Arvanite village.

The sight of burnt houses made me feel depressed.

Soldiers came running when they saw me and my soul was overjoyed

when I had something to deliver to all of them.

- That's all. Bye. - Bye.

Hey, postman!

You forgot the parcel.

Tanks and cannons are not spaghetti-like...

That's what this ascent was like, long and graceless.

While I saw women carrying ammunition on the mountain tops

I felt a fluttering in me and a throb in my throat.

Come now, Kotso! Come...

Every day, again and again...

Keep up!

They'll be up there waiting. Come, Kotso...

I never knew how I lost the parcel.

I went back to the forest and...

The parcel's gone, Kotso...

Gone.

Wondering if it snowed in Piraeus...

What's become of the others?

Where could they be now?

The old woman must be up and down the doorstep alone...

Who could ever tell?

Did I ever lose a parcel before, did I, Kotso?

Whoever knows what poor girl made it?

And sent it to her man?

Taking the little ones along, heading for the post office together?

I also put a little kiss in it,

the little one must have said...

Poor Motherland...

Melas...

Thomas.

I don't know him.

Mantzis...

Periklis...

Not him either.

Voulgaridis...

Takis.

Hello to you!

Boys, it's the postman! Hello, postman!

See if I have anything...

A little letter...

Where have you been?

Hey boys, don't push...

Got any more?

No.

- Any news? - None.

- What kept you? - Night. Got lost in the woods.

- Sinopoulos? - Here!

- Raikos? - Here, sergeant!

Nothing again today?

Easy, don't push!

We'll get what we have to get.

Read the names out.

- Mangas. - Here.

- Hatzis. - Mine.

- Lantzas. - Present!

- Papaditsas! - That's me!

- Ksenos. - Me!

- Tzamtzis. - Present!

- Voulgaridis. - Mine, give it.

- Melas. - That's mine.

- Anastaselos. - Here, give it.

Lambrinos.

I tied up the horse and took to searching.

I wanted to find him, see whose parcel got lost

and tell him, so he won't be miserable and I feel of remorse.

I was about to leave when suddenly my eye caught him.

Isn't there anything for me?

Nothing.

My beloved Yangos,

last Thurdsay it snowed in our village

and it's white all over.

Since the day you left for the front

I haven't stopped thinking and dreaming of you every night.

Have no worry, Yangos,

because I love you

and I'm awaiting your return.

I'm sending you a pair of woolen stockings and a warm jersey

so that you won't be cold.

I knitted them myself.

Loving you

and sweetly kissing you...

The rascals have stopped.

Must be a trap.

Colleague,

you have some water?

What for?

I'm dried up.

Down there is the spring of immortal waters.

Here's the dragon, too.

- Eh, Antonis! - What is it, Yangos?

See what's happening?

His mind went astray.

- I'll go down for water. - Have you gone mad? You'll be wasted.

They only aim at the rocks, not the spring.

Get any letters?

3 days ago.

How's Anthoula?

Awaiting my return.

Antonis...

If now you saw one coming to the spring for water

would you hit him? - I don't know. Why ask?

Because.

- They may not see me. - Stop that nonsense. Stay put.

Remember the river, Antonis?

You bet I do...

Dreaming of it for the last 3 days.

We've dried up here.

Come what may.

I'm going down to the spring.

Yango!

Eeh, boys!

Which regiment are you from?

From 28.

Is there a soldier Thomas Trigas with you?

Kosta!

My Kosta!

Brother of mine, Kostas!

Thomas!

Eh, Thomas!

...defended them many times like wolves.

I know that you at the Albanian front are still holding out strong.

But we

I can feel we won't keep up much longer.

The Germans have found their way into Greece.

In the mountains snows melted away and mud was everywhere.

We were on our way down.

I did my best so that they wouldn't know the end was near.

It seemed unbelievable to all that this return was actually a retreat.

All those bodies lost, all that sacrifice...

They couldn't bear it.

They all suspected it but noone said a thing.

As we walked down the ravine we saw a soldier waiting.

Unknown to us all.

Gazing, like the lost, beyond the Albanian mountains.

Where are you from, colleague?

What's your name?

Stratos.

What's your regiment?

28.

Are you ill?

No.

Get up and walk back with us.

I can't.

Get up!

Take him!

Leave me!

Leave me!

Leave me, I say...

Leave me, I'm telling you!

I'm not going back!

Have we not won?

I'm going nowhere!

Mother of mine...

I'm going nowhere...

I couldn't do otherwise.

Noone should suspect anything.

We had someone in our squad, just like you.

His name was Gerasimos.

A nice lad.

He was illiterate. I filled in his cards home.

So, this man

acted on his own accord.

He almost went through court martial.

Sergeant wouldn't put up with this.

At Morava, a bullet got him.

Killed on the spot.

We buried him under the snow.

Sergeant was crying like a child.

It looks deserted.

We'll stay here tonight.

What's with him?

He's staring at the water.

What the hell's happened to him?

Search me...

- Something's wrong with him. - What?

Conscience of honor...

What are you doing here?

You know the front line broke?

How do you know?

I was in Transmission.

In the battalion.

How did you end up alone?

During disengagement.

Their aircrafts opened fire at us.

Noone was left.

- What else do you know? - Nothing.

So, why were you yelling?

Can't you tell?

Tell what?

You'll change the war, will you?

Me?

How can I change the war?

Listen to me, Stratos and bear with this.

Then why did all this happen?

Don't look at it this way.

We did what we could and then some more.

And now we're going back...

- Don't let this go to your head. - Is that what you do?

You're asking me that?

There was no alternative.

- Never crossed your mind? - You knew from the start?

I feared it would happen.

And now it did.

We must.

Keep a stiff upper lip.

Takes strength.

Can't do it.

You don't have a mother waiting?

I do.

Then?

When we heard, our sergeant almost cried.

He wouldn't believe it.

When the airplanes hit us I was close to him.

"Better this way"

I heard him.

I didn't know he'd been hit.

When the planes left

I knew.

Stratos, no!

Stratos!

Nobody expected this.

But it happened.

It seems like a lie that all's been lost.

Dispersed now, each one goes back to his home

whereas we'd started out singing...

We all have the same way.

Back.

It comes so difficult going back like this. Like we're the beaten ones.

Who could ever tell, Kotso... You'd lay up there in the snow.

I still can't forget the boots I took from the killed sergeant.

I'm thinking of Stratos, the teach and the other boys back at the guardhouse...

Haven't seen them since.

I left Nikiforos up in the mountains.

One night he fell asleep in the snow and never woke up again.

Who was it, I can't remember...

Who was that one?

We were taught about him at school.

Who?

That ancient one...

who said if only he could see smoke coming from his home and then die...

Odysseas? (Ulysses)

That's it, Odysseas.

He was the one burning for smoke.

Along the way

we saw many others going back home.

It was almost dark

when we saw a woman waiting there on the road.

She said she was a teacher going to her village.

It was nightfall

so we took her with us.

You fed us, Athena.

With all you had on you.

It wasn't that much.

Bread, raisins...

You think of them as too little?

We couldn't have such goods up there.

Where are you from?

A village near Grevena.

The man out there, why is he on his own?

I don't know.

Quiet!

Good night, Kostas.

We know each other by now, teacher.

We've come some way together.

Know what we say about way?

What?

It brings together, not separate.

Boys! An automobile!

Let's stop it.

Hey, stop!

Let him take a woman with him.

He'll be back. Don't cry.

Worthy.

I behold Thy bridal chamber

Worthy.

richly adorned, O my Savior

But I have no wedding garment

to worthily enter.

Make radiant the garment of my soul,

O Giver of Light, and save me.

(Greek Orthodox Psalm of the Holy Week)

We'll go this way.

Will smoke a cigarette first.

So, goodbye.

Bye now.

- Bye Andreas. - Goodbye.

Bye Petros.

So long, boys.

Farewell.

All the best.

Farewell, boys.

I still cannot understand why we're going back. We were winning.

Better see about getting home the soonest possible.

They must be waiting.

That's it.

We're there.

We'd better go.

Stay here tonight.

You can leave in the morning.

Poor Motherland...

The film is dedicated to the known and unknown Greeks who with their blood

wrote the epic of 1940-1941.

Subs by never4ever / Aug 2014