The 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival screened from 6-16March2025.
“Together We Stand” is a Greek documentary focusing on the 1973 occupation of the Polytechnic University in Athens in protest against the military dictatorship in Greece that seized power on 21April1967 and surrendered it on 23July1974.
Through archival news footage, photographs, interviews of the participating students years later and Polytechnic radio announcements a very personal history both inspiring and painful has been recorded. Inspiring as it reveals the courage and idealism of youth and painful to both participating students and to the viewer for its fierce repression.
Upon the military junta seizing power in 1967 Greek youth were targeted seemingly because of the junta’s hatred of them. Some degree of liberalization fluttered about in 1970 which was exploited by the student movement and fostered student Pan Hellenism through regional student associations. Repression ensued in 1973 including removing military draft exemptions for university students forcing them into the army so they could be scattered throughout Greece and neutered.
Tensions increased and reached a flashpoint with the 1973 occupation by students of the Athens Polytechnic which held out for days until stormed by police and army units. During the occupation and immediately after it mass demonstrations occurred in Athens that included not only students but the general population.
The army was mobilized, live ammunition and tanks replaced teargas. Hundreds of students were beaten, fired upon, arrested, tortured and raped not so much for the purpose of gaining any information but for the “joy” of violent repression. Even the wounded were beaten in hospitals by the paramilitary and police.
Was the Polytechnic occupation responsible for bringing down the Greek junta? It certainly must have played the part in opening the eyes of Greeks to the brutality and resulting carnage. It illustrated the junta was not as effective as it originally was.
A compelling and spine-tingling recounting of events by student participants leading up to the Polytechnic occupation and its violent conclusion made increasingly intense by archival footage and the announcements from Polytechnic radio broadcasting to Greece the inevitable clash between students and security forces. Well composed soundtrack adds to the tension.
Police fired 24,000 bullets and the military 300,000. There were 24 deaths, 1,103 injuries, 16 unidentified dead, unrecorded suspicious deaths and an unknown number of missing persons. Successful prosecutions were minimal.
From a personal perspective I spent six months between 1971-73 in Greece and learnt how a dictatorship maintains its power. I became no stranger to Greeks shushing and whispering, “The walls have ears”. I recall one evening talking to someone on a beautiful summer evening on a Greek island musing how fascist the regime was. Unknown to me it was in front of a police station where I heard a voice piercing the evening air, “You are mistaken. With Papadopoulos every day is Christmas for the Greek people.” You might want to say at that point I decided I would be studying political science in university.
Directed by Stavros Stagkos.
RKS 2025 Documentary Film Rating 91/100.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 