Social Decay 1932

Dino is a student at the University of Athens who comes from outside the city, living with his parents’ support as he studies law. When that financial backing ends, he takes a job as a dancer in a theatre to keep up with his studies. He falls in love with Niki, an actress, but she abandons him for a wealthy industrialist named Stratakis. Struggling to cope, he slides into the world of drugs, becoming entangled with dealers and pimps and starting to use hashish. The pressure to join their ranks grows, and they press him to become a drug dealer himself. His health deteriorates as his habit deepens. One day he is found on the street, nearly dead, and is rescued by workers from a tobacco factory. They offer him a chance at steady work, and he begins anew at the factory floor.

Over time, Dino rises to become a trade union leader, drawing support from fellow workers and championing their rights. He attends a major union conference, but the gathering is raided by police, and the consequences ripple through his life. He is ultimately jailed as a political prisoner, sharing a facility with criminals. Stratakis shows Niki a newspaper announcing Dino’s imprisonment, spurring her to try to help secure his release, though he refuses to see her when she visits. She discovers Stratakis with two other women and leaves him, only to be drawn into a later trouble when she is seduced by a pimp.

After a period in prison, Dino is released. [Niki] waits at the prison door for him, but he ignores her, and the pimp uses violence to compel her to obey. Niki screams for help, and Dino comes to her rescue, freeing her from the pimp, although he now desires to forget the past and move on. Throughout it all, Dino continues his fight against social corruption and injustice, steadfast in his commitment to a better future.