User reviews

Plot: 3 teenagers led by the "leading" forth one decide to rob a wealthy man. They get caught and end up in a corrupt prison for minors.

You'll love Fylakes Anilikon if: You like realistic, dark Prison-dramas that don't actually choose sides and have a bit of comedic value too. The Greek cult cinema of the 80's is notorious for showing the negative sides of Greece, (and society in general), as they are and not how more mainstream movies want us to think. This movie succeeds in doing so and like I've said without actually choosing sides. Even the 4 teenagers who are a lot better than the hooligans in the streets or the corrupted prison wardens are criminals after all and the movie doesn't force you to see them as the "good guys". Fylakes Anilikon focuses on the problems of the prison but also show us the problems of a society with economic problems, where money and violence is power, it shows us the parents indifference or bad behavior towards their children, the corruption of the wardens, (exceptionally great acting from Tsahiridis as the "God"), the homosexual I-will-break-you-because-I-need-you chief warden and of course the typical corrupt Prison's head honcho, (Artemis Matsas of course!).

You'll hate Fylakes Anilikon if: You don't like the direction. 80's cult cinema even in its greatest hits always had a problem with bad acting, ridiculous montage, direction or cinematography. Fylakes Anilkon doesn't really have any of these problems but it does have the typical, very slow pacing of the era, taking a long time to get to the point. Finally if you expect something else from what the movie offers you'll be disappointed. This ain't no fairytale, there is no truly happy ending, things don't fix, they get worse…

FINAL VERDICT: Good, Realistic Prison-Drama (7.4/10)

[+] Shows multiple sides of a corrupted society. Great performances. A little bit of decent comedy thrown in.

[-] Slow paced

Also Check: Apo Tin Akri Tis Polis (1998) – Panikos Sta Sholeia (1981) – Ta Tsakalia (1981) –Trainspotting (1996) - Xich Lo (1995)

P.S.: My purpose in all my IMDb Reviews is not to say "I like\don't like this movie" but to help you decide whether YOU will like it or not since everything is all about taste and expectations IMO...

Where do I start?The opening sequence with Ganotis singing the ''decayed bolt'',the sequences with God played terrificly by Tsahiridis,the wiseguy Manesis speaks.A total era in front of your eyes.pure 80S cult!Don't miss it.

"I am going to destroy you. And I am going to destroy you because I am attracted to you". Such dialogue (between the prison warden and a young inmate, in this case) is not uncommon in the Greek cinema masterpiece "Fylakes anilikon". In a nutshell, this movie manages to sum up the entire 80's Greek youth culture in a mere 90 minutes of printed film. It depicts the story of a team, going from restless youngsters to prison convicts. Having decided that crime is the only way out of their problematic dead-end life they begin to plan a simple robbery. However, the plan goes wrong, they get caught and finally end up in juvenile prison. While there, the movie truly takes off. The team, apparently, do not have a good time. They are confined to a cell, they are sharing their room with other convicts, their families feel pretty bad about the situation and the prison staff are being mean to them. Plus, they have to deal with the warden's homosexuality and his fondness of young inmates. It's a real bummer for the team and it just goes to show that being in jail is bad, quite a surprising plot twist there. All is not lost however as the movie is not completely devoid of meaningful social messages and exquisite acting. Watch as the relatives cry outside the prison when being separated from their loved ones (some of them in the background are laughing their teeth out). Artistic challenges never cease to exist in the script and the director handles them masterfully. For example, the feeling of prison isolation is unique (most of the movie has been filmed in no more than three indoor locations). The casting is superb. The supervisor of the prison is played by Artemis Matsas, one of the sneakiest looking people (ever). "Theos" ("God") (Nikos Tsachiridis), one of the prison staff, is so mean looking and convincing you'd think he really worked at some correctional institution (or been an inmate in one). Themis Manessis, a Greek actor/cult figure is a 50 year old man, having an extremely large mustache. That doesn't stop him playing the role of a young team member, supposedly a schoolboy at the age of 18-19. This is classic stuff, not just comic relief. Manesis is an integral part of the film mechanics: At no point can you tell whether you are watching a tear-inducing drama or some sort of twisted comedy, written by a genius. All the scenes are a weird inconclusive mix of retarded individual outbursts and over dramatized meaningless problems. Most of the time you simply can't help but burst out in unstoppable laughter until your stomach begins to hurt. Concluding, no one should miss this movie. If you live outside Greece, plan your next holiday there. When you go, try to find the VHS tape. If you can't find it, stay in Greece until it shows up on TV. At some point it will show up. Stay, even if you have to wait forever. Even until you take your final breath. Some things are worth dying for.

This film will be appreciated after 100 years. The director and the actors (especially Manesis) is 200 years beyond their time.

This film had the guts to tell the story of the unseen part of the jail. It's a punch to the system.

Based in Athens of the early 80's the story follows the everyday life of a group of young friends, supposed to be teenagers and their row and aggressive negotiation with life.

The Story A': coming from different backgrounds, four friends are sharing a good deal of similar problems. Despite coming from different backgrounds they share the poverty, the grim future, the instincts of sexuality and the anger towards a society that is treating them "unequally". The scenery begins with a group of bikers driving fast on a motorway of the Greek capital. Early 80s disco atmosphere, shining balls and cola drinks in a modernizing but still misery city, the four friends are trying to secure some cash for the night drinks and the coffee, in different ways. The money is supposed to become the prominent problem. A bet that one of the friends loses and is unable to pay back leads to a physical assault, but in a romantic way the girlfriend of the rival biker chooses the bitten hero. Two more gang fights will follow but the second one will take place just after a comic (but eventually tragic) robbery of a wealthy man. The scene closes with the announcement of the judge's verdict and the grim part of the movie follows.

The Story B': a frightening "welcome" in the juvenile prison (in the reality the Korydalos prison) introduces the audience in a psychological thriller state. The four friends survive the system united but paying a painful price of the prison reality: forced homosexuality, ill treatment, psychological torture and illicit drugs. In a traditional Greek drama way the actors are alternating their play from been comedians and sarcastic of the insane reality to play the dramatic role of the trapped young prisoners. In this way they challenge our interest and the messages are smoothly transferred together with the entertainment.

The Psychological Truths Behind the Families: The 4 friends are reflecting 4 different family situation that are (in the movie) suggestive of a predisposition but perpetuation as well of the behaviors of the 4 friends. The divorced couple that has been torturing emotionally the son via their indifference for what is his reality, the military father who makes his son ridicule in front of his friends in the disco, the father with the connections but in denial for his son who denies to listen to him even when they are sitting each opposite the other in the visiting room of the prison and the poor old couple that after arranging a marriage of their daughter with a rich American (sending her away) are finding impossible to tolerate the aggression of the handsome son who dresses in sexy underwear.

The Psychological Truths Behind the Greek Prison System: a painful movie for anyone who has got an insight in the Greek Prison system. In some commends about this movie there is a suggestion for an "old" prison system. In the movie a reference by the chief officer in the Corfu Prison and the Yedi Coule (Thessalonika's old prison) are full of messages as they were supposed to be two of the nastiest prisons in modern Greece (Yedi Coule finally was shut down late 80s and the filthy reality came in the light; the prison was lacking even a sewage system!). Tsakiridis plays a classical and realistic role of the "God", the dirty prison warden. A tough moment is when the governor of the prison tries to play the soft supportive "father figure" and prompts the prisoners to talk. Matsas who plays the role was a fantastic choice. For the Greek audience he has been identified as the "traitor" in all the classical Greek movies. Therefore the audience expects the treason, which comes in the form of the punishment of those who were brave enough to complain.

The Movie: A diachronic and genuine movie that will entertain while the difficult things, the sensitive issues that are still impossible to be spoken aloud, are going to be communicated to the audience in the 90 minutes of a painful comedy.

Fylakes Anilikon is a very good film which shows the way of living in greek society in 80's where stealing seemed to be the only way of going away from poverty and salary from hard work. A company of 4 funny guys who are at least 30 years old (but play the teenagers in the movie) with motorcycles, after some failed attempts to gain money without working, they decide to rob a briefcase full of money... Nothing else, then the best part of the movie is in the prison of teenagers where the movie becomes drama and the guardian (Tsahiridis) in a great interpretation is the MVP of the movie even if Manesis (the boy with the mustache) plays veeery good. In depth, the movie wanna show that in that kind of society, the prison instead of being a way to become a better person, the more you stay inside, the more you become criminal and drug addict...