Johan Bergenstråhle – Jag heter Stelios AKA Foreigners (1972)

Quote:
Filmization of Theodor Kallifatide’s autobiographical novel Foreigners, which, under the direction of Johan Bergenstråhle, became one of the first films about post-emigration to Sweden.

In 1970, Theodor Kallifatides came out with the autobiographical novel Foreigners , which portrays some Greek immigrants in Stockholm with the young Stelios in the lead role. Director Johan Bergenstråhle stuck to the story of the Greeks’ encounter with Swedish society and decided to make a film of the novel. He wrote the script together with Kallifatides and the film became one of the first films about post-war immigration to Sweden.

Stelios (Konstantinos Papageorgiou) has just arrived in Sweden and ends up in a demolition house on Kocksgatan 48 on Södermalm in Stockholm, along with several other Greeks. At first he hands out magazines but then gets a job at a restaurant. The memories from Greece are constantly present and he does not have it easy to maneuver in Swedish life.

Several of the critics have rightly mentioned the Greek actors as one of the film’s great holdings. Not least Anastasios Margetis, who plays the aged Tomas, who is plagued by eczema, incipient cancer, homesickness and growing anxiety, gives the story a special intensity and presence.

Sun Axelsson reviewed the film in Chaplin. She began her review with a quote from Aliens : “It is the moral superiority of the Swede that creates his need to be a nurse and of course it requires a patient. It can be Biafra or a gypsy family, the Swede approaches the problem as caregivers, not as employees and he descends from heaven, he does not walk on the ground the patient walks on. “

Axelsson lifts up a lot that is essential with My name is Stelios . She was impressed by how Bergenstråhle portrayed the Greeks’ lives in Sweden with sensitivity and warmth. She also noted that Kallifatides Foreigners was a Greek book about Swedes while I am called Stelioshas become a Swedish film about Greeks. She summarizes: “Somewhere in the contact between director and novelist, a very vivid work has been created – not least thanks to the fantastic actors in the film. It is mainly their role interpretations that make it live so strongly within one when leaving home from the cinema. (-) Bergenstråhle has also, with the help of a Greek dialogue, which expertly exploited all language values, musty expressions and profanity, been able to create a film that portrays the foreigners among foreigners in Stockholm with tenderness and warmth. (-) My name is Stelios is a good and important movie. “

Other reviews were also positive, especially to the depiction of the Greeks ‘existence and to the actors’ efforts. But many also thought that the film never succeeded in getting past the superficial story, that as a poster against Swedish prejudices and attitudes was without cape and that the description of the Swedes in the film lacked nuances and was rather stale.

My name is Stelios premiered at the Venice Festival, where it was awarded with the critics award. And in Sweden, Bergenstråhle later received a Goldbag for his directing effort for the film’s “clear and insightful confrontation with a Swedish reality.”

In Sweden the audience failed, but abroad the film went the better. It was sold to England, Finland, Greece, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, West Germany and the United States. Maybe Swedishness was easier to absorb with distance?

With the tangible topicality of the migration issue in Europe today, I feel Stelios is more current than in a long time. It challenges many of our behaviors and provides a historical dimension of migration and Sweden.

Text: Lova Hagerfors (2016)

Jag.heter.Stelios.1972.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-KG.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 53 min
Size: 	3.47 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1920x1080 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	24.000 fps
Bit rate: 	4 150 kb/s
BPP: 	0.083
Audio
#1:  	Swedish 2.0ch AAC @ 254 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/068305D07970F0E/Jag.heter.Stelios.1972.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-KG.mkv

Language(s):Swedish, Greek
Subtitles:Swedish