Landscape in the Mist 1988

Voula, [Tania Palaiologou], and her five-year-old brother Alexandros [Michalis Zeke] want to meet a father they have never known. Their mother insists he lives in Germany, and one day they slip away from home to search for him. At the Athens Railway Station they try to board the Germany Express, but they are removed for not having tickets. A police officer takes them to a distant uncle, who convinces him that the mother lied to keep them away from the truth: Voula and Alexandros have different fathers and are the products of one-night stands. Although the two children overhear the conversation, they cling to their mother’s version and doubt the uncle’s revelation. A blizzard sweeps through the village, distracting the adults long enough for the children to slip away.

They press on by foot and soon encounter a young man, Orestis [Stratos Tzortzoglou], who is stranded with his bus. He offers to carry them, and the siblings decide to go with him. Orestis is the driver of a traveling theater troupe that stages a piece about Greek history, a troupe that has recently been losing audiences as people seek easier diversions. The journey with the troupe introduces Voula and Alexandros to a world on the fringe of their own—the fragile lure of performing and the fading glow of public interest. As the path of Orestis diverges from theirs, the children split from the troupe and hunt for other ways to reach Germany. They eventually find a truck driver who agrees to take them along.

During the ride, a traumatic event unfolds: the driver rapes Voula and then flees, horrified by his own action. The siblings reach another train station and narrowly escape a ticket inspector, only to bump into Orestis again, who ferries them away on his motorcycle. The theater troupe, meanwhile, dissolves, and its members begin selling their belongings. Orestis leads Voula and Alexandros to an empty beach cafe and they wander the promenade with him. Suddenly, a surreal moment unfolds: a huge marble hand emerges from the sea, held by a hovering helicopter, its index finger broken off.

Because he faces imminent military service, Orestis is forced to sell his motorcycle. He later reappears in a bar with the buyer and the encounter is portrayed with ambiguity, suggesting a sexual exchange. Voula’s feelings for Orestis leave her disappointed, and the children part ways with him once more. He searches for them and finds them on a deserted, freshly built stretch of highway, where he consoles the crying girl and whispers, “The first time, it’s always as if you’re dying.”

The trio parts again, and at another train station a soldier gives Voula money to buy tickets. They board a train bound for Germany, narrowly leaving the border behind just before passport control. Beyond the border, the river marks the frontier, and the children charter a small boat to cross it. As shots ring out from border guards and the fog thickens, a tree rises from the mist as if to witness their crossing. When the fog finally clears, Voula and Alexandros run toward the tree and embrace it, clinging to the only certainty left in a world of shifting loyalties and uncertain futures.