The City and the City, directed by Christos Passalis and Syllas Tzoumerkas tells the tale of Thessaloniki across several points in time in the twentieth century. More specifically, the directors reveal the little-known fate of the Jewish community in the city. The Nazi occupation in fact all but eliminated every member of the Jewish community. So overall, this seems to be a tale of decline; once a cosmopolitan city with not only a Jewish community, but where Greek, Ladino, Turkish and other languages could be heard on the street to a more provincial, homogeneous and dull city.
The directors, though, chose not to tell this story in anything resembling a linear narrative. If anything, The City and the City resembles a ghost story. The title seems to evoke the notion that behind and beneath the city we catch glimpses of throughout the film, lies the ghost of the city that once was. Where there are now garish bars and banal entertainment, families were murdered and hauled off to concentration camps. There is a theory among those interested in ghosts that terrible events can imbue locations with some sort of psychic energy that reappears at certain times or to certain people. Thessaloniki, as seen through the lens of these directors, is just such a place.
At first glance, this seems to be a period piece. We catch glimpses of family life from the early twentieth century. But we quickly realize that we aren’t following any particular story or any particular characters for very long. Instead, we jump around in time and witness fragments of various atrocities that have occurred in the city over the decades. We see bits and pieces of stories from 1927, 1931, 1943, the present day and so on.
A certain type of confusion sets in when the historical aspects of the film begin to blend with images of the contemporary city. Suddenly, there’s a Nazi officer riding a modern motorcycle and a group of Jews is being forced to stand in line and do the bidding of their sadistic guards. And all around them are modern cars and motor coaches. This arresting spectacle is not the result of a low budget, but an attempt to juxtapose visually the troubled history of the town; tp make the long hidden ghosts visible.
As fas as the actual historical content of the film, what might be most surprising to those who aren’t familiar with European history is the overt and unrestrained anti-semitism of politicians and political groups of the time. We see the E.E.E., the Greek Nationalist Union, an explicitly anti-Jewish organization, conduct paramilitary actions against the Jews and learn that their actions were supported by a number of politicians.
Visually, the film combines various narrative styles that match the different periods the film portrays. For example, the directors use traditional essay and documentary styles as well as post-neorealist imagery. Overall, the film has a dreamy feel, although it is undoubtedly a disturbing dream. It has the quality of dimly remembered stories told to a child. When we try to remember, the memories come in disjointed flashes, full of emotion even when we can’t put them back into any coherent storyline. The film is full of striking and memorable scenes: a prostitute turning tricks inside a barrel in a dusty vacant lot after the brothels have been closed, striking stills from the period, a lengthy shot of a woman describing in great detail her ordeal at the hands of her Nazi abductors, a man being slapped by a Nazi guard over and over again trying to restrain his anger.
As a holocaust film, The City and the City does not present us with many of the images we might expect. We don’t see any of the extermination of Jews. But we do spend a lot of time watching Nazis humiliating and dehumanizing Jews to the delight of at least some of their former neighbours. Part of the aim of the film seems to be the airing of the city’s dirty laundry by two filmmakers who grew up there and are fascinated by its past and present. This is clearly a film made by people who love their city even as they pine for what it’s lost.