No causar daño

The flashback functions in similar ways in Eduart. From the opening credits of the film, we are taken one year back to the time when Eduart lived in the derelict and shady areas of Athens, seeking a living through clandestine hustling. The flashback is used for narrative and semantic purposes. For the sake of argumentation, I will be referring to various parts of the film but not linearly since the narrative is fragmented and the migrant imagination is represented through scattered fragments.

The film opens with the final return of Eduart to Greece, through the snowy mountains of Epirus, to confess to murder. One year before, he lived in Athens as a fugitive, homeless and rejected by his friends. He hid in an abandoned train in the outskirts of Athens, without legal documents, subsequently got caught by the police and was deported. The return of Eduart to Albania marks, as in the case of Elion, the return of a failure and additionally unworthy son to the Albanian home where we see for the first time the figure of the Albanian father and master. This is a key moment where the migrant's motivation emerges.

The events in Eduart take place from 1996 to 1997 one year before the second insurrection and migration wave. Eduart left his home without any warning, presumably in 1994, and returned two years later. At home, he is once again rejected by the head of the family, his father, Raman Bako, a retired officer of the Hoxha regime. Without any hint of surprise or pleasure at the sight of his son, he sarcastically asks him "you finally remembered you've also got a family?" He directly then accuses him for stealing from the cash register of the train station where Eduart's mother worked and who was dismissed due to this. "Who taught you to steal and lie? Me, or your mother you scum" are the strong words of the father. He attacks Eduart who grabs his arm and answers back "you can't beat me the way you used to". The conversation ends with the father declaring his principles: "I don't want thieves in my house. Get lost". This scene is witnessed by Eduart's mother who watches silently and without intervening although she loves him, despite his delinquency. Eduart answers back "you are not an officer anymore giving orders". The hand-held camera here conveys immediacy and the household becomes a space of confrontation (fig. 4.3.1) that evokes one between the old order and the younger bewildered generation.

The military ranking of Raman Bako is important here since it implies that he is also an officer in the home, imposing military law. This establishes a firm link to the nation

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as well since the father represents law and order that stems from his position and authority in the government and national military force which grants power and superiority over those he deems inferior. This is so particularly if we consider that he served under a totalitarian regime that advocates hierarchy. This first scene where patriarchal law is apparent serves as a representation of law, order and familial principles on a national level. Simultaneously, the familial hearth and domestic space is vexed by the authority that generates confinement and a confrontational setting that is tightly knit and filmed with an erratic handheld camera that enhances the confrontation as we move from the figure of the father to Eduart, the movement evoking the sense of confrontation between two people.

One can argue from this point on in the film that Eduart was pushed to migrate to Greece not only because of the instability that governed Albania in the 1990s but by the unrivaled power of patriarchy and its values. This is once again a representation of the Albanian home and family as a straitjacket. The inability of Eduart's mother to intervene while the father enforces his principles is evidence to the hierarchy in this Albanian family, much alike its representation in Hostage. This hierarchy is revealed from the first shot of the interior of the home that we see when Eduart arrives: at the entrance, hanging by the wall is the military officer's jacket, with three medals pinned to it, a testament to the old regime which has not died out entirely as its symbol on display clarifies (fig. 4.3.2).

Hierarchy in the family and nation is even more apparent in the dream of Eduart in the infirmary of the prison where he lies in a coma. Eduart's dream provides further evidence to the argument that patriarchy pushed him to leave his home and country. Patriarchy serves as an extension of the nation's power which forces the Albanian youth to leave the home, in other words, the nation. In the dream, Raman Bako appears at the bed where Eduart is lying. He is dressed in full military attire, bearing honorary medals on his chest, a symbol of national pride and loyalty to the military and its values (fig. 4.3.3). He is shown from a low camera angle, creating a terrifying image of an intimidating man looking larger than normal. When he speaks, we see only his lips in an extreme close-up

Figure 4.3.2: Raman Bako's suit Figure 4.3.1: Confrontation

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creating an ominous image as he seems omnipresent and inconceivable in the frame of the shot (fig. 4.3.4).

Eduart introduces his father to the rest of the patients of the ward: "Gentlemen may I present, the honorable commander of the 6th division of the People's army, the fallen eagle of the Balkans Raman Bako in person". The other patients start to chant "long live the Party, long live Raman Bako!" The father then slaps Eduart in anger. Raman Bako is shown here once again to be an authoritative figure, ranking higher than his son who is unwanted in the home and family since he violates in essence the principles of the nation. This nation we can assume is the nation of Hoxha and the communist party and Bako was an officer of the dictatorship.

The governing factor that led Eduart to migrate to Greece was patriarchy. The strict and authoritative fatherly figure deprived him of the love and affection that would fuel him to reach his full potential as an individual. We have been told in the first encounter with the father that he would beat Eduart when he was younger. In prison, Eduart reveals to his cellmate Elton the reason why he left for Greece. "So what did you do in Athens anyway? I wanted to be a rock star. In the end I became a thief. Where did things get fucked up? I never believed I could make a go of anything".

This is a key moment in which the migrant imagination emerges. It is noteworthy that this is articulated in prison, in a bleak mise en scène, underlining the fact that not only did his dreams not become fulfilled but that eventually his journey of migration led him to an unfortunate conclusion. This is not due to an inherent tendency of Eduart to fail and to be merely a thief. It is implied at first and directly described to us that the father and by extension the nation have paralyzed Eduart. When Eduart's sister Natasha returns from her visit to the prison she encounters her father. Their discussion reveals precisely how patriarchy deprived Eduart from a fruitful life. According to the father, the reasons why Eduart "turned out like this" are unknown. He had to turn him in because he "dishonored"

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the family. Although Natasha reacts by saying "he is my brother" her father replies with the same strict words: "he's useless, selfish and ungrateful". 'You never believed in him' says Natasha and leaves.

Eduart sought to make it as a rock star in Greece but one could also argue that he fled from the family and its oppressive principles merely for the sake of leaving, unaware of the fact that he would eventually fail. The need to flee is evident in the scene of Eduart's transportation to jail. Here, the flashback functions in an expressive manner highlighting the desire for escape while at the same time the alternating shots of Eduart in a police van counteract and suggest that for him there is no way out of the straitjacket. Contrary to the flashbacks and the memories of Elion that emerge suddenly, suggesting that these scenes are memories or even distorted dreams of a man with a fraught psyche, here Antoniou has total control over the flashbacks utilizing the memories in order to underline the current unfortunate predicament of her protagonist instead of a distraught and traumatic memory.

The scene of Eduart's transportation serves as a short musical interlude. As Eduart is transported to prison, we see flashbacks from a moment when he would get together with his two closest friends in a rundown stone building and pretend to play rap music with a radio playing in the background. The lyrics of the song that the company sings underline the need for escape and eventually migration, not necessarily to Greece, but anywhere, as long as it is far away. Interestingly, the lyrics highlight the importance of mobility which in this scene exists only in the time that Eduart is taken to prison, where mobility is hindered:

I wanna go away, go any place, any place! Any place, yeah, yeah, any place, any place! Doesn't matter where you go, as long as it is far, far away…yeah yeah, doesn't matter where you go…Bright day black night, it kills me every day. Yeah yeah, it kills me every day. Just go far away, doesn't matter where.

The migrant imagination of Eduart does not share characteristics with the migrants of the other films I have discussed here. He did not seek for work or to return to the fatherland. He sought to become a rock star, infatuated by Greek rock music which he listens to in various sequences. His imagination in this case is linked to capitalism in the world beyond the borders where rock music exists. In Albania, rock music was considered a western product which became accessible during the transition to a market economy. Once he would become a rock star, he would have made it. Eduart is deluded, like Elion and Achilles, believing that a promised land exists in Greece where this time there is rock music and hence a good life.

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The scene that reveals this imagination is part of a flashback from when Eduart was in high school and would pass leisure time with his beloved sister. This scene is inserted when Eduart sleeps in the infirmary, as a dream. They are shown sitting by a river under bright sunlight listening to Greek rock music from an old radio. Eduart then announces that when he graduates he will leave "anywhere, wherever there's rock music". The conversation reveals Eduart's deluded image of the cliché rock star life style that is presumably adorned in riches, fame and ease. Natasha believes however that nowhere else in the world can one find "such a beautiful river" which is enough for her to justify staying in Albania. To this Eduart replies "what do you want a river for when you can have a pool?"

This strong faith in capitalism is manifested in Eduart's dream where, in addition to the scene with his father, we see the moment of arrival in Greece. Eduart and his two companions crossed through the snowy mountains. They assume that they arrived the moment they see a Pepsi can half buried in the snow. Eduart lifts it and starts to cheer with one of the two other men. In the meantime, the third member, being very sick, falls to the ground face down and is dragged by a hungry wolf. The Pepsi can is a product of the capitalist world that was not sold in communist Albania and is therefore a sign of the world beyond where nevertheless great danger lurks. Indeed, snow, wolves and patrolling soldiers, particularly in the spring and summer, are the hazards that make the journey to the world beyond less appealing and idyllic as imagined. The sight of the Pepsi can suffices to make the migrants ecstatic. It seems as though the over idealized notion of a lifestyle of consumerism and commodity is the rubric of the Albanians' imagination in the films I have been debating thus far. This impression is deeply rooted in their minds and it is clear that they have no way of escaping from the dead end to which capitalism will lead them to. In the straitjacket of Hoxha's Albania, learning to live according to the extremities of the communist regime that deprives them of any of the values and products of the (seemingly) inclusive capitalist West, the Albanian men will subsequently immerse themselves in the fallacy of capitalism, as it is considered the exact opposite of communism and, therefore, presumably, the road to prosperity. In their imagination, the enemy of communism can only be a good thing. This is what Elion displays in his sentence "ten million for Greece is nothing". The confidence in his tone and in the choice of words reveals that, as Elion imagines, for Albania ten million is unobtainable but for Greece it is "nothing".

Interestingly, a capitalist product, television, which existed in Albania as a tool of the propaganda machine of the communist regime can be considered as the primary source

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of this imagination. A small number of Albanian channels were broadcast with a program strictly limited to praising the regime, its leader and to condemning the enemies of the State. Nevertheless, as Kapllani has discussed, the aerials on roof tops could be tuned to receive a signal from Italian channels, which many Albanian houses would, clandestinely, follow religiously as a means of escape. Moreover, as television was, since its inception and mass circulation in the American and British households in the 1950s marketed as a "window to the world" (Spigel, 1992: 99), through which one can see images of the world in their domestic space, one may argue that this possibility was liberating for Albanians. For them, the images from foreign television stations and foreign worlds were those of the world beyond the borders. The domestic space became the area from which Albanians began to romanticize and fetishize the West, and particularly Italy, constructing the image of an Eldorado. According to Kapllani,

lonely people who don't go out much watch a lot of television. Television used to be the pre-eminent source of your fantasies, the only window through which you could escape and travel in your imagination, dreaming of magical, forbidden worlds: the West, freedom, equality, prosperity. You created in your mind a world of harmony and beauty, and with this construct in your head, you crossed the borders (2010: 101-102).

Eduart is equally deluded like Elion, believing in the fallacy of capitalism and its assumed riches. The aforementioned scene by the river is shown as yet another flashback of Eduart in prison. When he returned to his home the first question that Natasha asked was, with an ironic tone, "so are you a rock star now?" The futility of Eduart's migrant dream is highlighted throughout the film since his dream of escape is inserted when in prison. The director thus justifies Eduart's migration and misguided beliefs. They stem not from an inherent criminality or vanity. On the contrary, Eduart's father, the intimidating and authoritative figure that represents the Albanian nation and military of Hoxha is to blame since he deprived his son of confidence and freedom. Antoniou, like Giannaris, criticizes the Albanian nation for its oppressive principles that denies its youth of a sense of promise for the future. In Hostage this youth is represented by Elion and Mirella who are both bound by patriarchy and conservative traditions. Mirella is shown in two shots. At the table with her parents from where she is asked to leave since the adults have to debate. When Elion leaves, he gazes at her for a few seconds as she looks back at him through a crack in the door, a tight space in which she is framed, seemingly trapped, as she does not utter a word and simply closes the door. By extension, Giannaris and Antoniou criticize

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nationalism and intolerance and establish an inclusive discussion on Greek cinema, nationalism, identity and culture. Moreover, they address their migrants, who we must emphasize are not Greeks from Albania but Albanian "others", as more elusive figures, as men and youth and above all as individuals, with desires and hopes, beyond the racist label "Albanian", negating thus the criminality of the dreaded "stranger".

Through the migrant imagination, a loose concept that refers overall to the expectations, motivations and hopes of migrants, the filmmakers and their films I examined in this chapter challenge the Greek and Albanian nations and endemic nationalisms. At the same time, the filmmakers refrain from entirely negating national identity and, above all, the dictum of national cinema which commands a representation strategy that evokes one nation. The filmmakers convey the principles and moral fibre of the Greek and Albanian nations, highlighting their deficit.

We also see how globalisation and capitalism become blinding factors that establish the notion of a Promised Land in Greece, where the migrants will allegedly discover a surplus of work designated exclusively for them, with good wages and a fruitful life making migration and exile more attractive, as though luring the men into a trap. In this respect, the notion of the world beyond the borders highlights an over idealized imagination according to which Greece figures as the very opposite of Albania. In From the Snow we perceive the notion of returning to the fatherland, where presumably the Greek men from Northern Epirus actually belong according to the discourse of patrida which assumes a shared bloodline with indigenous populations. In Hostage, Elion, embodying Flamur Pisli, hijacks an intercity bus on a mission to vindicate his wounded manhood which has been under erasure by agents of Albanian and Greek nationalism. He very obviously perceives Greece as a rich country where he can, according to years of Albanian migration to Greece, obtain a good life and the chance to prove himself. In any case, Elion and the Greek migrants are driven to destruction by the imagination that nationalism and globalisation establish. Patriarchy is the determining factor that forces Eduart to migrate and which at the same time fires up the migrant imagination which eventually leads to another trap. The migrant imagination sets the films into motion and