Aspectos jurídicos de la acción humanitaria

In From the Snow, the world beyond is articulated at one particular moment as the locus of abundant paid work. After crossing the border to the Greek territory of Epirus, the protagonist, Achilles, meets with his grandmother's sister who remained on the Greek side of Epirus and was divided by her family following the last drawing of borders. When she asks him what his plans are, Achilles answers to work, save money, bring his family to Greece and to overall "get everyone out of that place up there". The last comment is a mistaken translation of the Greek phrase which literally translates as "to empty that place up there" ("na adeiasei o topos ekei pano"). This phrase has many implications similar to "the world beyond". Albania is at this moment not the safe haven that Greece is imagined as, but a wretched place that must be emptied. And indeed, in the early nineties, financial and social problems were insurmountable, forcing Albanians and Greeks to flee in search of better living conditions. "Emptying" Albania of its population is an extreme way of implying that it is not worth living in Albania any longer but is however so in Greece. The deeper implication of this is that Albania is peripheral and Greece central which figures so in the migrant imagination and which the film does not question.

The migrant imagination is informed additionally by the thought that for them it should not be a great challenge to make it in Greece since it is, allegedly, home. Achilles' words echo historical and social facts; the collapsing of the economy and the chaotic state of affairs after communism and the invitation of the Greek state. These issues are a given in the film that justifies the intention to flee to Greece. This bears further meaning since it is implied that Albania should indeed be emptied by ethnic Greeks since their original homeland is Greece. The migrant imagination here is implied as a collective expression of the Greek community. This highlights, besides the centrality of Greece and Europe, the notion of "long distance nationalism"78 since the overarching foundations of the imagined community are shared by the diaspora but as "imagined" they perpetually reinforce the migrant imagination.

Before this sequence, in the opening scene, Achilles and Thomas are standing in a tow-truck with other migrants from Albania. In the voice over, Achilles tells of how they fled from Albania through gunfire, looting state houses and making their way to Aghious Saranta, the borders of Northern Epirus with Greece. Achilles and Thomas then decide to cross the borders to Greece. This initiative however is marked by a sense of futility:

78_{For more on this, see Wise A. "Nation, Transnation, Diaspora: Locating East Timorese Long-Distance}

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"where are we going? To the homeland says I. To disaster says Thomas and laughs". The voice over conveys a certain pathos that overrides the inherent wanderlust of movement. The journey of hope away from the devastation of Albania is marked as one that will bring only more devastation, despite any hints of hope and optimism. After all, this is a homecoming journey and not merely a "home-seeking journey or homelessness journey[s]" (Naficy, 2001: 229) which indicates also a joyous moment.

Achilles' voice over asserts subjectivity and binds the centre of perception and narrative to the mobile gaze of the migrant/traveler. We thus follow the trajectory of his journey of hope through his psyche. Despite the futility in the words of Thomas, the migrant imagination is fueled by hope and the imagined notion of a promised land, since it is not only where work presumably is but also the primordial fatherland, the so-called "patrida" ("Πατρίδα"). Articulating the notion of "patrida" is the first indication of the migrant imagination in the film. Patrida is linked to journeys, exile, diaspora and great longing among other notions such as the primordial past that often is employed in xenophobic rhetoric. Moreover, if we examine the etymology of the term, contrary to homeland, patrida derives from the root pater ("πάτερ") meaning father. Patrida therefore is linked to the fatherland. This could be examined in regard to a discourse on primordialism, the arbitrary roots of the nation and lastly patriarchy which is what the term connotes. Our fathers or, in other words, ancestors, were born and died in this territory before us and therefore it is, in the present, our fatherland (and in this respect ours exclusively). The latter displays the deeply rooted concepts that bind a nation of men.

The concept of the fatherland was established already in antiquity when the population was named according to the name of the father and their city-state of origin. This means that a Greek is indeed one and can refer to the country as patrida if his/her father is from there. For Orthodox Greek speakers from Albania this will be conflicting since patrida implies an exclusive membership which they cannot entirely claim according to the law of soil and blood that governs citizenship. Although one may be born on soil that once was Greek.

For the migrants this is assumed as a return to the fatherland but in reality it is a journey to a country where they will experience marginalization. Their fatherland is not Albania but neither Greece. Therefore, I argue that patrida is an imagined concept but as such per se it is an essential component of the migrant imagination and particularly of returnees to Greece who sought to reconnect with Greece maintaining a collective belief in the notion of reconnecting with and healing the trauma of separation a rhetoric that was

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widely promoted by the state. The migrant imagination in this case figures indeed upon imagined notions.

The discourse of the fatherland and the return to it are displayed in the Homeric epic, the Odyssey of Ulysses to his native land. It is part of a culture that continues in the early twentieth century with Greek emigration and the nationalist agenda for the return of expatriates. It additionally is suggestive of adventurous and arduous journeys which are such since a homecoming journey requires most often great effort. In the Odyssey, the journey is rewarding and, after enduring great pain and encountering immense peril, Ulysses is welcomed as a hero, a notion from which Goritsas refrains, linking the traveler's imagination to misguided and hazardous impressions that ultimately lead to a finale in which a journey of homelessness begins undermining journeys of conquest that are often linked to the American dream and the overarching presence of its application in Hollywood. It moreover highlights exile as a permeating and painful feature of migration. Patrida moreover is a term that carries a particular sense of belonging that can be linked only to those born and raised on Greek soil. The return thus of Greek émigrés from the United States for example would be a natural expectation since they were primarily born and raised in Greece. The invitation to Greeks in Albania was part and parcel of a nationalist agenda that required a strengthening of national consciousness which in particular means re gaining the regions bordering Greece where Christian Orthodox populations resided. This was the cultural, political and military project of the Greek state and it represented the "political expression of the ethnically, religiously and culturally- linguistically defined Greek nation. It also played a significant part in unifying a traditional and internally divided society and transforming it into a nation-state" (Triantafyllidou, 1999: 190). This is the aim of the migrants in the film, to renew their ties to Greece.

Crossing the borders from Albania to Epirus means that Achilles and Thomas have to cross the "Forbidden Zones" (Kapllani, 2010: 31), a terrain forty kilometers from the Greek border, in effect the borders of the borders. In the film, this is performed in the night, as the migrants, Greeks and Albanians, cut through tall wire fences. This is shown as a life risking initiative since the borders are guarded by Albanian soldiers who fire in any direction. Unless one had a permit from the police, which at the time was unobtainable, then one is surely escaping and will be shot on the spot (ibid.). The Albanian guard however is out of sight. All we see are close ups of spotlights tracking the fugitives. This asserts the ubiquitous presence of guards and the notion of a heavily guarded border. The flight of the migrants through the Forbidden Zones is indeed a life risking endeavor.

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Achilles sees in the distance the figure of the island of Corfu and exclaims with a tone of hope "Corfu, Thomas". This establishing static shot (fig. 4.1.1), which lasts only for a glimpse, displays the illuminated outline of a piece of land that is indeed beyond, much like in the descriptions of Kapllani. In the dark, the lights across the sea seem promising - the illuminated sight of the West. The migrants cross over through the night and are found by Greek soldiers the next morning. Following their short stay in Epirus on the border with Albania, they flee to Athens. Before this, the two men sit during the day on a hill and Thomas gazes towards the sea. He says "Corfu Achilles" with a tone of futility that is a characteristic of Thomas' personality. The shot of Corfu is, as in the first sighting of the Island, an establishing shot (fig. 4.1.2).

In the light of the afternoon, one can see mountains obscured by clouds. It seems as though Corfu is closer but still so far from their reach. Both shots of Corfu are static and part of a static gaze and may suggest that the island paradise is inaccessible to the two men as there is no impression of movement towards it. Movement within the frame is linked to the static and disembodied cinematic apparatus. This immediately suggests that Corfu is always far away, excluded from the mobile migrant gaze but always close enough to be inviting and, what is more, illuminated and luring. Thomas acknowledges the gaze of Achilles and projects the same imagination but also the impossibility of reaching the island. This suggests that, even momentarily, they share the hope of returning to the fatherland. Corfu is part of the fatherland that seems to be at their grasp, the doorstep to the world beyond the borders.

However, we never actually see Corfu; it is merely the outline of land in the distance, an imagined paradise which is never reached since the migrant trio proceeds towards the concrete jungle of Athens. The postcard image of the popular tourist destination is thus negated, since we identify with the gaze of the migrant "which deprives the spectator of the scopophilic 'touristic' pleasure" (Loshitzky, 2010: 27). Corfu remains a world beyond, literally and metaphorically. The futility in the voice of Thomas and his

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exclamation reinforce the notion that there is a heaven in the world beyond but it is not for the disenfranchised migrant from Albania, something that Thomas is aware of. The migrant imagination is not necessarily negated therefore but it becomes burdened by the conditions of hospitality, in this case by the strong belief that it is not prosperity waiting but disaster.

In the film, the decision to migrate is made not simply out of necessity, but also a desire to return to the fatherland, where the migrants allegedly belong. After all, they were invited. It is a matter of identity and belonging. This is a defining element of Goritsas' representation of Achilles and Thomas. What makes the migrants of Goritsas stand out is that they are returning home and not migrating to a foreign country in order thus to establish national identity anew. Therefore their journey is not only one of hope. This is also a homecoming journey which often leads to perpetual movement as the migrant realizes that home is not what was expected. The migrant imagination and the various aspects of the journey create a more elusive understanding of the particular character of this journey.

From the Snow marks the first moment where Greek cinema adopts the gaze of a Northern Epirote during the time of their migration to Greece. It stands out from the other films addressd since the migrants are not Albanian, but Orthodox Greeks from Albania. Goritsas brings to the fore his fictional representation of Northern Epirotes while remaining faithful to historical and social facts and data regarding both countries. Goritsas sides with the migrants and depicts their imagination not as naïve, but logical and human. The futility expressed in the beginning is furthermore an indication of the journey's outcome as the spectator is told that for the migrants neither of their homes is a safe haven. The migrants are shown from the start as hopeless through the minimal and straightforward use of the protagonist's voice over and the shots of the distant homeland. The journey is simultaneously one of hope but also homelessness. Goritsas therefore embraces the "other" and reveals his inner motivations and hopes (and in certain sequences, literally, his dreams as I will discuss) and implies from the first quarter of the film that Northern Epirotes are the wretched of the earth, like other migrants and refugees without a home. Their identity and home are in flux. As we shall see now, the Albanians in Hostage and Eduart imagine equally an Eldorado in Greece, but their motivation and expectations differ in more detail from those of the Greek migrants.

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4.2 Justifying criminality in Hostage: vindication in perpetual dialogue with a