Greece can be full of Drama, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Satire, Melodrama, Disaster and Heist! And we’re talking only about films! Many directors have wanted to capture even a small part of the Greek “psyche”, either focusing on its people or its landscapes; either way it’s welcome since the one defined the other in such interweaved manners that they're inseparable.
Movies that dared to look into the Greek soul with honesty, either for a light-hearted comedy or a social drama, will always be a part of great movies history, like Zorba the Greek, Never on a Sunday or Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (though we prefer the book to the latter). Some others, while not so honest or successful, offer a glimpse of truth in the eyes of the beholder, about the Greek spirit, like My life in Ruins and Shirley Valentine.
There are also movies that take you a trip to Greece and all its beautiful scenery, almost literally immersing you to the small European Country. Mamma Mia, set against some of the most beautiful scenery the silver screen has seen, Two Faces of January, that also offers quick history lessons, Bourne Identity, that even for a few seconds transcends the viewer in their personal escape, For your Eyes Only, where even James Bond pauses to take in the Meteora scenery, or Tomb Raider - Cradle of Fire, that has one of the most thrilling and breathtaking opening sequences set against the Aegean sea and Santorini’s Caldera.
Of course there are more movies that were filmed in Greece: After Midnight, although it never shows anything remotely “touristy”, it’s distinctly Greek -and an amazing movie if you ask us. The Big Blue finds the proper reasoning behind its title’s colour in the Aegean sea. Dogtooth, emphasises in its dysfunctional family, out of space and time, but still shows the Greek blue sky! High Season shows what was it like for a foreigner to live in Greece a few decades before, and Summer Lovers shows just how crowded it can get during summer, that you might have to share your bed with a third person (wink, wink).
Greece has so many beauties to reveal that any movie won’t show it all, even if it's a documentary. The best way to explore and find more about it, is by visiting and staying for a few days. Guides can also help you discover the authentic Greece, but whatever you choose, expect to witness the beauty, the images and hospitality one sees in the movies, in real life- except the sharks, Sorry Lara Croft, Greece has no sharks!
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