Original subtitles

Listen, men.

You all know what kind of war we are having.

Each and every one of us is fighting the same.

For our parents,

our children,

and our wives.

We are here with a purpose.

Our homeland is having a hard time,

and so are we.

War is tough.

We have to be tough, too.

It is ruthless.

There is no war

with sorrow and mercy.

The position we ended up with is paid with blood.

Yesterday, there were other men here.

And they sacrificed themselves.

Today, it's us.

But you should know that your turn will come.

Stratos. Know this well.

In the end, whatever happens, I will win.

I love you. Did you hear what I said?

Whatever happens. I love you.

You're late.

I didn't want to come. I was crying.

Do you love him? It's different when I'm with him.

Do you hate him? There is no love with mercy.

He knows nothing. He loves you.

You saved him in the ambush. In the ambush.

I should have let him get killed.

Two days before, he asked me why I come here.

What did you tell him? That it's quiet.

I was waiting for you. I thought you wouldn't come.

Stratos, what's wrong with you tonight? Nothing.

He said that you would leave tomorrow. Yes, in the morning.

There is no other way.

I also have a mother

and a wife.

And you have children

who want us and are waiting for us.

But we should know that we may never see them again.

What do you want, Stratos?

I don't want him between us. That's what I want.

Why are you looking at me like that? I'm afraid for tomorrow.

Swear to me that you will be careful.

I can't take such an oath.

None of us knows where they'll get it from.

I'm scared while you are away. I'm begging.

Don't beg anyone. Did you hear me?

I said "That's it" many times, but I escaped.

You will not escape from me so easily.

You are beautiful, Irene.

That's why you love me? And for that reason, too.

We have to win to stay alive.

I didn't want this war neither did you,

nor our homeland.

But it happened.

Now, we have to be ready for anything.

Irene.

You carved it then.

I thought you wouldn't come.

Every time, I think that you won't come.

I waited, I cursed, until night fell and you hadn't come.

It wasn't possible. Kostas was at home.

You knew he wasn't there then. I was alone.

And you didn't want to. That's why you didn't come.

Shortly, you

and me

may be scattered brains in the soil.

But that doesn't count.

Does anybody want to ask anything?

Kostas, you're back. Did I wake you, Irene?

You left the light on.

I forgot. I was waiting for you, I wasn't sleeping.

When are you leaving? Ιn the morning.

You must be tired, I'll cook something. No.

Did you go out today?

I went to the river.

It was cold and I came back.

Spring's here and it's still cold.

Is the place you're going far away?

Yes.

Two cars got blown up yesterday.

What happened? Nothing's left.

Do you remember the lieutenant? Yes.

Only his watch was found.

These damn mines. If you step on them, nothing's left.

Kostas.

Do you think the war will last long? Whatever.

It will end, too.

Anything that starts, comes to an end.

[melancholic music]

[music ends]

What are you thinking about, Kostas?

Stratos.

It's been long since I've known him and I still don't understand him.

Strange man.

I only know that he is alone in this world.

He saved my life twice.

If you thank him, he looks away.

He goes first in the most dangerous missions.

Few times have I seen such a brave man.

Other times, he is worthless.

I don't even know what to say.

He once blamed a colleague for something he didn't do.

They discovered that he was lying.

He was taken to the military court.

They asked him why he had lied.

What did he say?

[music ends]

He looked them in the eyes and said nothing.

I asked him again, he did not answer.

Everyone knew what he had offered to the army.

He was acquitted. Why did he do it?

I've never understood.

What's wrong, Irene? Why don't you eat?

Nothing.

Hi. Is everything ready? Yes.

Good morning. Good morning, Irene.

Let's go, Stratos.

This is the path we will take.

We will set up the ambush here.

Scatter at both ends of the road.

Let them go. I will go first.

Sometimes, I remember how we met with Irene.

You know, Stratos,

with her it's always like the first time we met.

And this love grows stronger and stronger.

I wake up at night when she sleeps and I watch her,

for hours.

I can't get enough of her.

To me, Irene is the whole world.

When we were transferred to this city, I told her not to come.

To stay with her family.

She didn't want to hear about it.

I remember what she told me.

"Your life is mine, too.

And if some day you cease to exist,

I won't exist either".

We'll split here. I will go around the road with three men.

We have to be careful of the land mines.

If they don't pass in an hour, we will go back.

Takis! The lieutenant was hit!

Okay, sergeant.

In a few days, he'll be fine.

In how many days? Four or five days.

Is he a friend of yours?

He's my friend. Is he married?

Stratos.

Kostas?

Where is Kostas?

Stratos, talk to me!

Don't act like that, Irene.

Today, it was his turn.

Talk to me! Tell me!

He got killed.

What did you say, Stratos?

A mine.

It blew him up.

This is a lie!

This is a lie!

It can't be!

Stay strong, Irene. That's how it is.

Where is he?

What do you mean?

Nothing's left of him.

At first, we were together. We were at an ambush.

In the battalion, they heard the enemy would pass from there.

They sent us there, it wasn't the first time.

We hid in the trees and we waited.

It took them long to show up, but we kept waiting.

At some point,

Kostas took three men with him.

I asked him where he was going.

"On the other side", he told me.

"Let's hit them from both sides".

"Don't go", I said. "The place is full of mines".

He laughed.

"I know them", he told me.

I stayed there and he went forward.

Less than two minutes had gone by, and we heard the explosion.

We all ran.

As I approached, I saw.

There was nothing left.

A mine, one of those that blow up whole cars.

Nothing's left of him.

Irene.

You've always said

that it would be different if it were the two of us.

I know, he was your husband. It's not easy.

But maybe you wanted it to be this way, too.

One of us had to be killed, to leave.

Listen to me.

These days, maybe the next days, they'll send me on an operation.

I know where we'll go. It's the most dangerous mission.

I know of such missions. No one gets out alive.

We have to guard a passage through a mountain.

Whoever retreats, he's executed.

It's certain suicide.

We have to leave, Irene!

If it weren't for you, I wouldn't mind being killed.

But first, I wouldn't go down without a fight.

But now, the borders are nearby.

It's a one-day trip. I'll desert the army.

I know the paths well. We will escape.

They won't catch us.

If we stay here, we are doomed.

I will be executed. It's a sure thing.

And if I'm doomed, since you love me, you are doomed, too.

No, Stratos.

No?

Did you say "no"?

Yes.

I love him.

I don't know, Kostas.

I didn't want this love.

It won me over on its own.

I thought that it would pass.

And it kept taking over me.

I tried to tell you,

but I couldn't.

None of us saw clearly how this thing happened.

Not me.

Neither did you, Kostas.

Neither did Stratos.

I was miserable and happy at the same time.

I didn't know what I was feeling.

Not even now.

From one moment to the next, everything changes.

That night with the gramophone, I wanted to tell you this.

I wanted us to go away.

When you were with me, he was always with me, too.

I knew something was missing from our love from the first moment.

From the beginning to the end, it's a story.

Irene!

Irene, let's leave.

Stratos!

What about the lieutenant?

Do you have any news?

Where is your mind? Nowhere.

You have to visit him. I would go,

but he knows you.

You are his friend.

In the morning, a soldier will come with medicines, I will go with him.

How is his wife? Did you see her?

They sent someone to find her yesterday.

But he didn't, she went to her family.

I lied to her, so as not to scare her.

What did you tell her?

That an order was issued to send a detachment in an unknown direction.

Did she believe you?

Yes, she did.

Hello, Stratos.

Hello, Kostas.

How are you? I've made a narrow escape.

Does Irene know?

I didn't say anything. You did well.

What did you tell her?

That an order was issued for you to replace someone in the operation.

And that you'll be gone for a while.

Did she believe you?

At first, no.

But the battalion confirmed it.

They sent someone to tell her the same.

Irene is okay.

How are you?

Have you stopped by to see her?

The first two days.

Now, she's with her family.

Why?

I persuaded her.

"Don't stay alone here. Take the train and leave", I said.

At first, she didn't want to.

How would she get the letters you would write to her?

"Don't worry, I'll send them to you", I said.

I didn't know when you'd recover.

I almost got confused.

Sit down.

I'm glad you came over.

Last night, I thought Ι was the only one who survived.

How did you get me here?

In a jeep.

Stratos,

how's the world out there?

The same.

Has anything changed?

Irene,

since you love me, why don't we leave?

For you, Stratos. For you.

You won't get away with it, they'll catch you.

The war will end, and then we'll be together.

Kiss me.

Hello, Stratos.

The lieutenant was brought to the hospital.

He wants you to visit him.

That day,

that afternoon, when I first came to see you.

It was spring, remember?

I was wearing those sandals.

Two days ago, I threw them away.

I can't wear them anymore.

I was late.

You told me that you would wait for me, because you knew I would come.

Then, you hugged me.

I loved you.

Since then, nothing has changed.

It's all like the first time.

Every time you leave, I think I'm losing you.

This fear, an inexplicable knot here.

Every time I hold you, there's a glass between us.

And I know it.

If we are to get lost, let's get lost together.

If I hadn't met you, Stratos,

would it be better?

I'm dreaming.

I'm dreaming of a trip, just the two of us.

Close to the sea.

If he were alive, what would you do?

If he were alive, everything would be different.

We're going on the most dangerous operation.

I know.

The battalion says that you are brave.

They brought him to the hospital, he is waiting for you.

I'm glad that Stratos didn't tell you the truth.

If he told you that I was injured, you would be upset.

That's why he told you that I was sent on an operation.

Did I get any letters?

Not at home.

Here? Not here either.

Stratos didn't write to me.

What's happened?

Who knows.

Have you heard anything?

From whom?

He should have written me.

What are you thinking?

If you had gone with him, too,

wouldn't you be in danger?

I would.

It is the worst time of the war.

And the unit they sent there is unshielded.

Can everyone be killed?

Not all of them.

But most.

Does it still hurt?

Only some numbness. It will pass.

I wanted to tell you... What, Kostas?

I woke up at night, I couldn't sleep.

A thought crossed my mind,

if I was killed then, what would you do?

Why do you ask me?

Could you remarry?

Be with someone else?

That's what I was thinking.

Why are you thinking these things? You are fine now.

Irene, do you love me?

I love you.

Stratos!

Irene!

What were you thinking about?

Nothing.

Nothing, I was waiting for you.

What's wrong? I told you, nothing.

Sergeant.

If you get killed,

do you want me to say anything to anyone?

Nobody.

The sun hasn't set yet and it looks like night to me.

Go home and pack your things, we will go down to the city.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving the hospital.

I was granted leave of absence for a month.

Irene!

I've deserted the army.

You'll come with me.

You will chase him with three men.

He deserted.

And that means death in time of war.

He is smart and peculiar. Watch out.

Although he likes the peaks,

he'll try to escape from low passageways.

I know him well.

He fought by my side many times.

He didn't desert out of fear. There's another reason.

Most likely, he will cross the border.

Don't let him get away, he mustn't get away.

Catch him alive.

And if he tries to escape, execute him on the spot.

I have a request. The sergeant is my friend.

Is it possible for someone else to replace me in the mission?

I cannot kill him.

No, you will go.

We're not asking you what you want.

I told you what should be done, without second thoughts.

It's an order.

That was when I first saw you.

You would come to the station to pick us up.

You were late. We were waiting for you.

Kostas had told me about you.

You were his friend.

You had saved him in battle from certain death.

I imagined you as a grown man.

Strong, sullen, unapproachable.

When he told me "There he is, he's coming",

and I saw you come closer,

it seemed so funny to me.

You were like a child, I didn't mind you.

I was so happy with my husband.

I think about what you meant to me at that time,

and what you meant afterwards.

How many times haven't I thought again of that moment.

How many times haven't I sought to find there the beginning of our love.

I didn't find anything.

I had my own world then.

You didn't exist.

Like that,

you came into my life like something I didn't count on.

It's like hearing his laughter,

your laughter,

and mine.

I was happy.

I was really happy that day.

I couldn't guess that the road we took

would now bring us both here.

If I knew it then,

I might have been scared.

But now, I don't regret it.

I didn't realize how the night passed.

One day and one night's left.

Do you think they're chasing us, Stratos?

They must have been notified about me by now.

That's why we're going through hidden paths.

This is the only way to cross the border.

Once we arrive, there are some passages. One of them is not guarded.

If they realize that we're going this way, they may follow us.

Are you scared?

For you.

We'll escape. They can't catch me easily.

Remember, Stratos,

when the three of us rushed to the sea.

They've passed from this place. They must be hiding somewhere here.

Do you think they'll escape? No.

I hope they will. Why?

No reason.

Are the borders far? They're close.

Very close.

I'll wait until dawn.

They can't cross during the night.

We'll wait, too.

I go back to the beginning.

When we were playing with the swing.

It was your idea. You climbed and tied it.

You said that when you were little, it was your favorite game.

Then, that coming and going between us tortured me many times.

At nights, I would dream of it and I got scared.

I would dream that you grabbed the rope,

you stopped the swing and held me in your arms.

"Of course it's you, isn't it?", you shouted.

Then, you let go of the rope, as if your hands were burning.

And the coming and going started all over again.

I don't want to hide it from you.

Even now, it tortures me just the same.

We may have cut the rope,

we may have left forever, with no return,

but all these still exist.

Even if I love only you.

And even if I don't regret for what's happened.

Every time I saw you, I wanted it to be the penultimate.

When you moved away from where I was, I was afraid you might get lost.

Or you might leave.

So that day, when we lost you for a long time,

when I saw you far off, diving from the mast,

I was relieved.

And I wanted to get lost, to leave.

Not to see you again.

It never crossed my mind that you felt the same way I did.

But I wanted it this way.

I thought deeply that I couldn't stand it.

And in this game that we both played,

you were indifferent.

That's how you looked, indifferent.

When he set up the tripod to take a picture of me, he called me,

"Come here. Why did you leave, Irene?"

Suddenly, it seemed to me that he knew everything.

I felt alone there, at the edge of the stairs.

It was as if I were at the edge of the world.

I wanted to run again, to leave and get lost.

The smile that he was about to photograph

would be fake.

As it all started to become fake for a long time.

Even you, when you came and stood next to me,

you looked like another person to me that I'd never seen before.

Loneliness suddenly took over me.

I wanted to cry, to have no one around me,

the moment when we were being photographed.

Carefree and happy.

Then, my husband approached,

he hugged me where I was standing and kissed me.

I remember those trips.

They seem to me like moments of an hour.

They brought us closer and closer.

Nothing could stop what we both knew was going to happen.

And yet, without saying anything to each other,

already fighting to escape from what we wanted,

[switch to melancholic music] we looked anxious and happy.

And yet, the circles around us became smaller and smaller.

I had no one to talk to and tell them about it, apart from you.

The happy laughter when we were together,

the happy and smiling eyes,

those peaceful afternoons by the sea in the summer

had started to strengthen our love.

Before we even decided it.

It's getting dark, Stratos!

Stratos, it's getting dark!

Water, water!

A trip! Trip!

Together, together!

Sergeant, sergeant!

A trip!

Are you alright now?

You had a fever. You were muttering.

What did I say?

Did you get scared?

It was a beautiful day.

So beautiful, that I suggested that we come once again.

And then, you said jokingly that you wouldn't come again.

And you ran and swam in deep water, you weren't visible.

I couldn't see you and then, suddenly

something gripped my heart.

It was like the dizziness the sun brings in summer.

You close your eyes and you see it again.

Its white light shines through your eyelids.

It insists on being present, even when you don't want it to.

I felt fear.

I thought all that was nonsense.

A madness of mine.

Shortly, it would become overcast, we wouldn't go down to the sea anymore.

We would be separated and everything would end.

So, I had to decide to tell you

what we both knew.

My ego took over me and I said to myself "No.

I will wait for you to speak first".

But the sadness for the end of the summer remained.

That night, we returned to the city

speechless and hurried.

[switch to dramatic music]

Did you know the sergeant? Yes.

They were good friends with her husband. In love, these things don't matter.

It hits you hard and then, it's over.

What if he wants to escape?

If he doesn't stop, should we shoot him?

I want him alive.

But, if he doesn't stop,

shoot him.

No matter what happens, he mustn't escape.

This is the order.

And our duty.

If they kill me,

what will you do?

When did that happen?

More images come before my eyes,

from what we lived those days on the trip.

Trivial moments brought me closer to you.

Many times, it was like we forgot the love that tortured us.

We threw ourselves into a desperate move.

Without a second thought, to supposedly be happy and live.

But you know it, too.

All this joy and carelessness,

was nothing but a moment

that was struggling to hide the truth.

Are you tired?

Be patient. We're almost there.

This is it.

This is where the forest ends.

Here is the passage.

It is a dry river, with trees on the right and left.

We will wait until dawn.

It's dangerous to cross during the night.

We have to be able to see ahead of us.

It was the last time that we went down to the sea.

It was the first time you kissed me.

There was a floating platform far away.

You suggested that we swim there. I arrived first.

Then, you arrived and went up.

Without a word, you embraced me.

I don't even remember how long I was kissing you.

It's as if we were left like this,

in the middle of the sea, from that moment.

On a trip, the two of us. Just the two of us.

On a trip that hasn't finished yet.

The passage is opposite.

We will guard the four sides so that he won't have a way to escape.

Do you think he'll surrender?

No. He knows what lies ahead.

Too bad, sergeant, you will not escape.

Do you regret it?

I will go ahead.

You will follow me.

We will crawl on the ground.

So as not to be visible. If we're still being chased.

Only one person knows this passage, a sublieutenant.

We were together at the operations.

You'll do exactly what I'll do.

If I fall down, you'll fall, too.

If I run, you'll run, too.

If they catch us,

they'll shoot in the air at first.

That would mean that we'll have to surrender.

To go back.

Back?

Stratos.

If we get out alive and time passes,

all these will be like a distant story.

Like a fairy tale.

Isn't that right?

Yes. If we get out alive.

That night,

the sea was still and the beach was deserted.

Summer was coming to an end.

I realized that I wouldn't make it through.

I had to express to you, not my love,

you already knew it, but something else.

That this story of us

would have a different ending than usual.

And I felt sad, anxious

and happy.

When you looked at me, I realized that it couldn't be done otherwise.

I was weak in front of you.

Surrendered to the decision we both took.

You understood, but you restrained yourself.

Maybe, you hadn't believed it yet.

Maybe, you didn't want to believe

what was coming.

What came.

This is the passage.

It's over.

Don't be afraid.

THE END