In 1971 I spent 4 months in the Greek islands and then in 1972 another month. I managed to witness Greece as most will never see it. We took a fishing boat to an island I forget the name of, as there was no ferry service. We stopped for the fisherman to haul in his catch and with dolphins jumping along the boat we arrived at our island destination as the sun set. We stayed on this island for two weeks and slept in a vineyard a la open air. Thank goodness no scorpion bites. There were no hotels and no pensions. There was one restaurant in the village which we had to travel to from the vineyard across the beach down one rickety wooden ladder then up another ladder. The restaurant was happy to serve mezze with ouzo as the sun set but God forbid asking for dinner before 20:00 hours! Absolutely no English was spoken by the locals, which really didn’t matter in those days so we just went into the kitchen pointed to this and that and Bob’s your uncle a fantastic dinner arrived. Then back home in the moonlight across the beach and up and down the ladders!
I apologize for the digression as isn’t this a film review and as I write about travel perhaps the world of film and travel intersect.
“Kristos the Last Child” is a documentary about a young boy in his sixth grade on the Greek Dodecanese Island of Arki very close to Patmos itself being very close to the Turkish coast.
Kristos is the last child in the island’s elementary school. In fact he has been the only child in the school from grades 3-6. He is bright and his teacher Maria has dreams beyond goat herding for Kristos. On the island of Arki there are close to 50 inhabitants. One of many small Greek villages on the verge of extinction.
Kristos bravely chooses to break the goat herding tradition by attending high school in the nearby island of Patmos where he must live in a spartan dormitory. It is an enormous step for a boy but he takes the voyage and we are left wondering about his success. Given the love of learning imparted by his teacher Maria I think he will be successful.
An interesting story but perhaps more interesting is a snapshot of a Greece that is disappearing to brighter opportunities elsewhere in Greece and abroad. This story commenced in the 1950’s took a respite and with the “economic crisis” in Greece rebooted.
In Greek with English subtitles.
The director is Giulia Amati.
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