Djam (Journey from Greece)

This 2017 Franco-Grec production by director Tony Gatlif is streaming on Amazon under the title Journey from Greece. I’d never heard of it before stumbling upon it while searching through Amazon Prime for something to watch. I hit the jackpot with this one. The sort of needle in the haystack I’m always hoping to find. Tony Gatlif is a Franco Algerian director best known in the US for his Gypsy trilogy which includes the 1993 film Latcho Drom. He’s got a deep filmography going back to 1975 and is an old hand and a known entity so you’d think a new release by him would attract some attention. Apparently not in the US – which is a real shame because this is a lovely film. Its a small scale odyssey of a young Rebetiko musician living on the island of Lesbos who’s sent on a solo mission to Istanbul to have a replacement connecting rod cast – so that her step-father can get his boat back in service. Her journey takes her through a bleak Southern Europe ravaged by Greece’s economic woes and the refugee crisis – which would be super depressing if not for Djam who radiates so much brash charisma we can see beyond the suffering. Djam sings, dances and blusters her way past troubles and picks up a sidekick along the way, a French girl who is lost and bereft of the resources Djam has in abundance. Djam embodies the spirit of Rebetiko, a working class ottoman folk music revived in the 60s much like the American 60s folk revival. In fact – when Djam comes across of group of Rebetiko musicians she knows from the festival circuit hanging out by a shuttered train station and joins them in a jam session, all I could think of was the complicity of Deadheads in the 1980s. Daphne Patakia as Djam is just extraordinary. I assumed after watching the film that she must be some well known Rebetiko musician but that’s not the case at all. She learned how to sing Rebetiko, to play the baglamas and to belly dance just for the role. The film is so well done and the lead is such a revelation that I felt I had to tell everyone I know bout it – but of course everyone I mentioned it to thought I was just blathering on about another pretentious crappy French movie.