A LETTER FROM CHARLEROI


View at Tainiothiki tis Ellados
  • Autre(s) titre(s): GRAMMA APO TO CHARLEROI
    GRAMMA APO TO CHARLEROI
    LETTER FROM CHARLEROI (THE)
    LETTER FROM CHARLEROI (THE)
  • Genre: Feature Film
  • Année: 1965
  • Description: Ten years after the first emigration wave of Greek laborers to Belgium coalmines, the director takes a personal view of the problems confronting these laborers in a European country which provides them with all their material needs, except for the possibility of returning to Greece. The script is based on a letter that a Greek coalmine laborer in Charleroi, Belgium, sends his mother. The laborer talks about life in Belgium and his relation with the homeland. He is homesick, is at a deadlock, trapped, as it were, in a foreign land. Alongside the narrative, we watch scenes from the life of Greek immigrant laborers in a foreign land.
    1. DEDICATION Shots at a coalmine (THE CITY OF CHARLEROI- A COALMINE)
    10. I HAVE GROWN OLD MYSELF Shots of the city and the Greek coffee-houses. Two elderly women walk down the street in front of the ATHENES Coffee-house. The camera takes us inside a coffee-house where we watch disillusioned Greek immigrants. The laborer asks his mother to stop nagging him into going back home as it only adds to his suffering. He could send her money to come over, but she is old and afraid she might die on the way. "Mother, I have grown old myself. Damn the time we parted". Shots of the city taken from the laborer's house; he is having a meal with his daughter. In the pram there is a baby and the laborer lifts it in his arms. (THE GREEK COFFEE-HOUSES – THE LABORER'S HOUSE– THE STREETS OF CHARLEROI)
    11. COAL IS RUNNING OUT Shots of the city. A tram is crossing the road. There are shots in a cofee-house. Coal in Charleroi is running out and new wells are being opened near Antwerp. There are shots of the mines and laborers. Wages are axed. The laborer eats and smokes in a restaurant. He waits day by day of what is going to happen. (A RESTAURANT - A COALMINE)
    12. IMMIGRANTS' LIFE A laborer wanders by the river bank, near some parked cars. Three laborers are drinking in a poor yard. A worker takes his baby in his arms and walks off. A lot of workers are having a meal. Every day is like any other day. Two laborers go into a poor room. The laborer with the baby in his arms sits down on a fence and muses. The narrator recalls the last time he went out with his mother to go to a funeral in Athens and the first night on the train. There are shots of worksites by the river. Shot of an immigrant. One day all this will be over and the Greeks will earn their living in their homeland. Shot of another immigrant. "We'll be the ones who will have wasted their youth". The father with the baby in his arms keeps musing, while smoke rises from the smokestacks in the distance. A laborer washes in a poor room. Another laborer places a vinyl record on the player. Two others are asleep. (A RESTAURANT - A ROOM - A YARD – THE ROAD - THE WORKSITES - THE COUNTRYSIDE - THE ALLEYS)
    13. A LETTER FROM CHARLEROI Shot of the dull countryside, to the accompaniment of Tsitsanis's music. Charleroi, Belgium, spring 1965. (THE COUNTRYSIDE)
    2. OPENING TITLES Two men walk in a working class suburb. It is an area full of factories and rising smoke, cranes and cars. There are shots of the city and the river, with worksites nearby. The streets are empty and poor. Aerials rise on hilltops. There are old buildings. Some people are getting on a tram. (CHARLEROI TOWN – FACTORIES - THE RIVER – OLD BUILDINGS - STRRETS - ALLEYS)
    3. THE LETTER TO THE MOTHER Two laborers are sitting by a building. Narration now begins – the laborer is being apologetic to his mother. He doesn't write to her anymore; she has got used to that and doesn't complain, but hopes to see him again one day. In the meantime, there are shots of the miners at work. Two laborers go into a building and shut the door behind them. (THE COAL-MINE - THE WORKSITES)
    4. EARNING A LIVING IS HARD TO DO IN A FOREIGN LAND Sunday, 2 May 1965. The laborer is at home writing to his mother. There are more shots from work in the mines. We are told the laborer has been out of work for three months because of his ailing health, but now he is well and the following day he is going back to the mines. At the beginning he was alright, but then he lost his appetite and fell ill. Once you get used to the coal, you cannot easily come off it. He describes his feelings at work and explains how it feels since his house was knocked down in the battle of Konitsa. We also see coalminers working under wretched conditions. "Mother, earning a living is hard to do in a foreign land". (THE HOUSE - THE COALMINE)
    5. THE SUNDAY WALK We are again at the laborer's house and he keeps writing the letter. It's Sunday and he had gone shopping in town. We see Greek cafés (Athens, Thessaloniki) he has been to look for company, but he ended up having coffee by himself. Then he walked to the bazaar and he liked it there. There are shots of a fun-fair. He went to church with two newly arrived Greeks who had asked him for information. There are shots of the church, which is a just a plain building. After the mass, the laborer to the office next door where they sell Greek books and calendars. There is a little girl looking closely at the bookstand and a mother with her baby. We are told at the end that the priest pronounces a benediction for the miners. (THE HOUSE - THE CITY - THE GREEK COFFEEHOUSES - THE ORTHODOX CHURCH)
    6. HOMESICKNESS Shots of the coalmine and the laborers. We hear descriptions of the working conditions interchanged with a traditional song. Shot of a laborer writing as Tsitsanis's music begins to play. There are shots of the laborer in bed and by the window. He has had it to the limit and recalls his house in Greece, in Kavala which – rumor has it – has changed and is full of strangers. It's the swimming season, now. "If only I could see it again and I wouldn't mind if it's changed". In Charleroi, there is soaking rain be it summer or winter. There are shots of the dull city. (THE HOUSE - THE CITY)
    7. I GET DRUNK TO FORGET ABOUT EUROPE Shots of the Greek cofeehouses. The mother is proud that her son is now a European citizen, but he gets drunk at the Greek coffee-houses to forget about Europe. (GREEK COFEEHOUSES)
    8. MY DAUGHTER ASKED ME TO GET HIGH-HEELED SHOES An immigrant dances zeibekiko (popular Greek dance in 7/8) in the countryside. There are people living in wretched conditions, immigrants. It is very difficult for the laborer to go back to Greece. We see immigrants' children going to school. The laborer notes in his letter: "Yesterday, my daughter asked me to get her high-heeled shoes. She told me in French and I did not catch it." He smokes pensively, sitting at a table and writing the letter. A girl looks out of the window. (THE HOUSE - THE COUNTRYSIDE - THEQUARTER)
    9. EIGHT YEARS IN A FOREIGN LAND Shots of the coalmine. The Greek laborer was suffocating in the coal and solitude, but he could not have it any other way. Next month he will have been 8 years in a foreign land and hopes he might retire on a pension soon. There are shots of harassed immigrant – coalminers in a poor yard. (THE COALMINE – THE YARD - coalmine – The yard of a run-down place)
  • Mots-clés: ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΣ ΕΡΓΑΤΕΣ ΑΝΘΡΑΚΩΡΥΧΕΙΟ ΚΑΦΕΝΕΙΟ ΒΕΛΓΙΟ ΤΡΑΜ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΙ ΞΕΝΙΤΙΑ ΝΟΣΤΑΛΓΙΑ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ / IMMIGRANTS WORKERS COAL MINES COFFEE-HOUSES BELGIUM TRAM ORTHODOX FOREIGN LANDS NOSTALGIA LETTER / ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΣ ΕΡΓΑΤΕΣ ΑΝΘΡΑΚΩΡΥΧΕΙΟ ΚΑΦΕΝΕΙΟ ΒΕΛΓΙΟ ΤΡΑΜ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΙ ΞΕΝΙΤΙΑ ΝΟΣΤΑΛΓΙΑ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ / IMMIGRANTS WORKERS COAL MINES COFFEE-HOUSES BELGIUM TRAM ORTHODOX FOREIGN LANDS NOSTALGIA LETTER
  • Fournisseur: Tainiothiki tis Ellados
  • Director: LIAROPOULOS LAMPROS
  • Recueil: Ψηφιοποιημένες ελληνικές ταινίες μυθοπλασίας