Documentary Releases: Mykonos, the Soul of an Island (2018) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Omega Entertainment

Low budget Greek cult exploitation writer-producer-director Nico Mastorakis isn’t exactly known for high-quality cinema.  A purveyor of B-movies who got his start in still-puerile exploitation with Island of Death before navigating his way up the ladder with such 80s action-horror trash ala The Zero Boys, Hired to Kill or Nightmare at Noon, the unapologetically frank Grecian provocateur has more than carved out his niche as a kind of self-made Golan-Globus entrepreneur.  While his films sometimes showed off the Greek island of Mykonos such as his aforementioned debut, The Wind and The Time Traveler, they’ve always been a backdrop for his movie madness which don’t necessarily represent the controversial island or its people for who they are.  In a rare break with form in what turned out to be the director’s most critically acclaimed award-winning work to date, Nico Mastorakis shifted to nonfiction with the startlingly frank, politically incorrect and finally quietly moving portrait Mykonos, the Soul of an Island. 

 
With voiceover narration by actor-composer Aris Gerontakis clearly penned by the ever honest and open Nico Mastorakis compounded with soft multi-instrumental music by Apostolos Papapostolou, our film takes us through the controversial Mediterranean tourist destination in a kaleidoscopic cacophony of footage preexisting and newly shot for the film.  Initially cynical over the way the tourist economy over a period of four months across every summer turns the island into a Pagan Rome-like pit of sex, drugs, partying and all other manner of excess and debaucheries.  Unapologetic about the state of the island as a Grecian, Mastorakis’ film sheds light on the island’s crime wave, the isolation, the understaffed police force and poor conditions of the work forces to cater to the elite and millions of tourists sweeping through the island like a wave.  Whether it involves building code violations of five-star hotels or bribery and corruption in the highest levels of government, Mastorakis isn’t afraid to turn his cameras on it.

 
Then the film does something rather poignant by deep diving back into the past life of indigenous rural Mykonos as a small Greek island with a few people living on it leading simpler, quieter lives.  While many of the coastlines are still present and some tourist attractions have been preserved, for the most part one gets the impression the peaceable quiet people of Mykonos were pushed out by lucrative tourism and new housing projects that freely broke building code laws repeatedly.  Mastorakis is ordinarily a beer-and-pizza kind of guy and while aspects of Mykonos, the Soul of an Island have a Spring Breakers regard for debaucheries such as champagne showers or cake tosses, it comes as a shock when the film starts actively tugging at real-world emotional weathers and regional issues specific to the island.  Only a true Grecian could understand the sense of nostalgia and loss for the way of life that once was Mykonos and with this sequence dares to ask not only whether or not the island has a soul, but of what kind?  It is a genuinely heartfelt, touching passage with an air of soulful wisdom emanating from it. 

 
Not all of the film works this well, with some of the filmmaker’s frankness and cynicism coming off as borderline xenophobic though in fairness this guy’s movies have always had this somewhat snotty overconfident attitude so I took it in stride upon watching it.  As a warning, there are times when the voiceover narration complains about certain ethnicities and/or demographics with a layer of snark that’s easy to take offense to.  Still, knowing how this filmmaker operates based on his fictional work and given the sheer amount of details highlighted by the filmmaker with a poignant penchant for nostalgia, the experience of watching and absorbing the film is still valuable even if you have to filter out some of the narrator’s complaints about ‘leftist politics’.

 
The film is comprised of both a wide variety of clips including an infamous incident involving a burning yacht on the shores of Mykonos and the island’s inability to contain the fire swiftly though a bunch of the footage is provided by co-producer Mykonos Live TV.  Largely shot on crisp (presumably 4K) digital video by Nick Axelis and precise if not complex montage editing by Hector Bardakos, the documentary film looks top notch on a technical front though preexisting video clips vary in image quality.  While the film as a construct doesn’t quite take the I Am Cuba approach to the island, by the end of films like it or They Call it Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain, the lands absolutely have character and a pulse beating through them.

 
Intended to give tourists and locals both a travelogue, historical background and understanding of the island’s current subset of problems still ongoing, Mykonos, the Soul of an Island is something of a bittersweet love letter to the legendary Greek hotspot of sublimity and strife.  Though frank and at times scathing, there’s clearly a heartfelt connection Nico Mastorakis feels towards the island so many of his own features have taken place in and with love comes great criticism.  While some viewers will be put off by the snarky acerbic voiceover narration taking potshots at various topics, Mastorakis fans will feel right at home.  And even to just documentary filmgoers uninterested in fiction, this Greek produced and directed tapestry of its most controversial but heavenly island will get an overview of the Godlike place with insight and perspective a standard Discovery Channel or Smithsonian documentary would likely leave out.

--Andrew Kotwicki