Disgusting and brilliant. Starting as typical for Greek cinema 50-ies - 60-ies of the last century, rural drama in the spirit of neorealism "Fear" is not the most famous Greek director Kostas Manussakis very quickly turns into a psychological thriller exploring the depths of the subconscious sexual maniac. And the depths are such that it is so difficult to emerge from them together with the author of the picture that, sometimes, it seems that it is impossible at all. That your consciousness will remain somewhere at the bottom of the sticky look of Anestes Canalis, depicted on the screen by Anestes Vlahos so brilliantly that his character will appear again and again after the final credits, causing a mixed sense of pity and disgust for the ridiculous, cruel and stupid village boy, all whose feelings are occupied by lust for his own half-sisters.
The story of the son of a well-to-do peasant, raising his offspring in full accordance with village traditions: in hedgehog mittens, it looks as typical for any village of any country of any time, probably, so terrible. Where such education in 99 cases gives a positive effect, there is bound to be an unfortunate freak on whom the system will fail and give birth to a monster that will hide behind a god-fearing, hardworking, loving father and stepmother son. And no one knows that all his free time Anestes dedicates to peeping after the named sister, deaf-mute Blessed Chrysa, the favorite of the whole village. And when the quiet sexual fantasies of the guy will result in uncontrollable violence, and his father and stepmother will remain in front of the corpse of his adopted daughter – it will be too late to do anything. Imperatives imbibed with the mother’s milk will not allow them to pull out the crime of the son and stepchild hated by all fibers of the soul for public view, will make them hide what happened, look for the missing girl with everyone, unpretentiously grieve in public and pretend to continue to love the scum.
And Anestis after the deed lives in constant fear, which only increases his lust, which is now aimed at his second half-sister Anna, the daughter of his stepmother. And the haunted-lustful look of the unfortunate freak, on which the camera constantly focuses, pierces the viewer, as they say, “to the livers.” Vlajos is so completely transformed into his hero that causes a real disgust for a physically attractive guy. The disgust that, even without knowing what really happened, Anna feels. The disgust that the viewer feels on the other side of the screen. The disgust that their parents feel.
However, along with this disgust, the director masterfully creates an atmosphere of eros in the frame, which literally floods the entire screen with the appearance of Elena Nathanael, one of the brightest erotic stars of Greek cinema of the 60s - 70s. Playing on the contrast of the physical beauty of Anna and the moral ugliness of Anestes, Manussakis exacerbates the conflict to the limit, along the way making it clear that the sister knows about the crime of her brother, knows about his lust, but remains silent. He is silent because he is bound by the unspoken rule of omerta. Silent because a shared secret forces her father to agree to her marriage to tractor driver Nikos, who would otherwise not have been on their doorstep. He is silent because he knows how to humiliate and trample a brother without strangers.
And the fact that Anestes is likely not to stop at one victim, for his family is not important. He is already excluded from family members, thrown out of brackets, crossed out from all lists. And what he will do in the future, no one is interested. The main thing is that this does not affect the current reputation of his father, stepmother and sister. And they become tacit accomplices of a murder that has already occurred and possible future crimes.
Fear, hatred and silence in a small traditionalist society are a rattling mixture. Sooner or later, the volcano will explode. The author of the film is no longer interested. He escalates tension with numerous close-ups, expressive images of magnificent actors, candid even by today’s standards, erotic scenes, naturalistic cruelty, but most importantly – catharsis – leaves outside the frame. And with it does not allow to disappear without a trace and fear, which remains with the viewer after the final credits. Together with the beautiful naked body of Elena Nathanael. Together with the disgustingly running look of Anestes Vlajos, who was not afraid to appear on the screen in a disgusting image. Along with the sacrificial beauty of Ellie Fotiou (Chrisa). Together with the illumination of Kostas Manussakis, who filmed the brilliant and frightening “Fear”.