"The Mistake": Antonis Samarakis' widely read novel is being made into an English-language film
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
One of the most widely read and translated books by Antonis Samarakis, "Lathos" [The mistake] is being brought to the big screen by director Theofilos Papastylianou, who also wrote the film's script. It stars David Dawson in the role of the Investigator, ςιτη Arthur McBain, Ralph Little and Greek actress and director Angela Brusko.
A large part of the filming, which will be in English, has already taken place in Attica and Boeotia and is expected to be completed on November 9.
Antonis Samarakis's crime-psychology novel "Lathos" was published in November 1965. The book was a great success not only in Greece, but also in dozens of other countries, as it was translated into a total of 31 languages, while receiving excellent reviews in all of these countries. For "Lathos", Antonis Samarakis was honored with two literary awards: in Greece with the "12" award (1966) and in France with the Grand Prize for Crime Fiction (1970). "La faille", which was filmed in France in 1975 by Jean-Claude Carriere and Peter Fleisman, was also based on this novel.
Director Theofilos Papastylianos notes regarding this new film: "How free are we? What control do we have over our thoughts and actions, over the way we perceive the truth and the people around us? Can we find what unites us and not what divides us? With 1/3 of the world’s population living in “disguised” democracies, is totalitarianism knocking on our door? Can oppression take the form of a peaceful society?
I first read “The Wrong” as a teenager. The second time found me decades later holding the English translation in my hands. I started leafing through it and couldn’t put it down. All these questions about freedom, identity and human diversity began to overwhelm me and a phrase from the book stuck in my mind: “Whoever is not with me is against me”.
“The Mistake” is a neo-noir allegorical drama and a political parable. It offers a timeless warning for totalitarian regimes but also for every form of power, for its mistaken belief that it can dominate the human soul and thought, control them and direct them. Totalitarianism and oppression are not always accompanied by an army and a curfew. They can take the form of a beautiful, peaceful and prosperous society. Where the place seems hospitable, freedom is self-evident, but propaganda and the tools of control are more refined and sophisticated.
The reality described is universal, a reality out of place and timeless. We find ourselves in the present-future of Godard’s “Alphaville”. Time seems to have stopped, making it impossible to remember when the Regime began, let alone imagine when exactly it will end. It is a dystopian Orwellian world where life is locked in a box.
"The Mistake" is about betrayal. Adulthood betrays our childhood, war betrays peace, power betrays freedom, prejudice betrays diversity. It is a story about transformation and doing what is right. Sometimes, being different, becoming the "wrong" in a closed and rigid system, is the right move. As in the Odyssey, the journey is the message. The Investigator is led to a new affirmation of human values while the Suspect discovers the person behind the predator. Eventually the identities of the two men merge into one. In the end, it does not matter whether the Suspect is guilty or not, whether he escapes or the Investigator breaks him. What counts is the struggle of people to come together, to discover what unites them and not what divides them.
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