Hostage
(aka Omiros/2004)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
An
Albanian in Greece wants to go home and with no easy way to do it and pure
disgust with his life and Greek-Albanian relations, he decides to hijack a bus
filled with passengers and Constantine Giannaris’ Hostage (aka Omiros/2004)
tells that story.
In one
way, it seems he was trying to be at least somewhat political with his
screenplay, but it seems at least some of the aspects might only be understood
by persons from Albania or Greece.
Outside of that, the mostly unknown cast is not bad, making the
kidnapping seem real. Unfortunately, Giannaris
is not Sidney Lumet or Costa-Gavras, then the story runs into repetition as the
kidnappings becomes less realistic as that becomes a run-on. It has enough moments to give it a look and
it is not a cheap thriller, but it is smart and ambitious enough to give it a
chance.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image seems to have been shot on digital High
Definition of some kind, but either way, it is meant to look gritty and maybe
like a Costa-Gavras film. Panagiotis Theofanopoulis
does what he can with the format, though more than usual might be lost here as
this image is softer than expected with less depth too. The lack of color seems more by choice. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo no major
surrounds. Extras include a making of
piece and the original theatrical trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
