A SOUL SO DEEP

“It’s not easy to fire your gun when your own brother could be on the other side”. The time: last period of the civil war. The place: Grammos and Vitsi, the beautiful yet blood stained mountains of Western Macedonia, Greece. Main characters: two brothers, 17-year old Anestis and 15-year old Vlassis, shepherds that have been recruited by the two opposing, warring sides. Anestis by the National Army, Vlassis by the partisan Democratic Army. The two brothers, raised in the mountains, are used as guides, to lead their troops through the difficult and unknown paths and passages of the mountains. With them, Captain-Vounisios, machine-gunner Giannoula, lieutenant Triantafyllos, Brigadier Tsaglis, 14-year old Foula, and many other soldiers and partisans, all too young to die or to kill in this brutal war where brother kills brother. The story of each of them is written in the battlefields, in meetings at the headquarters, in medal ceremonies, execution squads and court martials. The film pays tribute to the youth lost on both sides of this mountain range, it is a testimony in their memory and respect for the thousands of unknown victims of a futile and devastating war with no victory, since the whole nation was defeated in the end.