In 1900, a group of bandits kidnap a young bourgeois and take refuge in the mountains, waiting for ransom for his release. The young man develops a friendship with the leader of the bandits and realizes that the life of these outlaws is much more authentic than his own. A film with references to Vizyinos, Papadiamantis, popular culture: the old pamphlets, the mythical faces, the Romeic traditions and rituals, the deep religiosity, always with the harsh mountainous Greek landscape in the background. Papastathis, also outlining the contrast between banditry as a popular uprising and the formation of the modern bourgeois state, finally shows that older forms of popular culture with more modern forms somehow always coexisted.
Lakis Papastathis (1943) is an important figure in Greek cinema and television. His first short film Letters from America (1972) was awarded at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. In the period 1968-1971 he worked as an assistant director in films such as Evdokiaby Alexis Damianos. He later worked in television, where as a director-producer he created the series Paraskinio and Historiko Archeio. His other feature films are: Theofilos(1987), To monon tis zois tou taxeidion(2001), Journey to Mytilene (2010).
