Roza of Smyrna (2016) User Reviews

You have to know history to understand

[evi-75011 · 7/10 · 26 December 2018]

The greatest problem is that you have to know history to understand this movie and be touched so I think the director should have given a prologue at the beginning as it is done in many movies.This is very important if we want a movie to be seen by everyone not only from Turkish and Greeks.Good performances and it is a very educational movie which talks about the disaster that war causes to both sides...for this humanitarian approach I give a higher rate than the movie deserves If there was a historical prologue,more scenes from the past in Ismir between Ross and Ismail as flashbacks this would be a much better movie. Still deserves to watch it :)

May be over-dramatic yet not that untruthful...

[philipposathina · 8/10 · 3 May 2017]

Any review of this film is very much depended on the angle the reviewer looks at it. And for certain it can not be free of its tragic historical background. It's possible that a foreign viewer may consider the story of "Roza of Smyrna" too excessive and too over-dramatic to be really touched by it. This wouldn't be the case if he new the whole story, that is to say the huge historical burden it carries for its heroes. This burden has to do with the events that marked the fall of the Ottoman empire after the end of world war 1. In brief: The Greeks invaded Asia Minor which according to their own ethic ideology/story was the cradle of their national rebirth since this area was Greek speaking before the Turks conquered it less than ten centuries ago and since by the time of the W.W1 ending, millions of Greek orthodox Christians were still living there, especially by the Black Sea coast ("Pontos"), the Aegean coast, and eastern Thrace. This invasion resulted in an unprecedented disaster for the Greeks. The Turkish troops, re-organized by their new leader Mustafa Kemal, defeated the Greek army who had to leave the area, abandoning the Greek population to the anger of the Turks, especially the numerous insurgents, guerrillas and all kinds of irregular soldiers who were fighting on the side of the regular Turkish army. Smyrna (Izmir),this amazingly developed for the standards of that time great city of the Aegean coast, a city where the prosperous Greek community was the prevailing one in power, wealth and numbers was set on fire and totally destroyed and its frantically and in horror and panic trying to escape Greek population to an unbelievable extend slaughtered. As a result of this story, the Asia Minor Greeks either fled in millions to Greece and elsewhere or left their bones on their homeland which ever since lived in the Greek collective memory as a lost Paradise. This unprecedented disaster -not really known abroad- is named by the Greeks with a single word "i Katastrophi" (with a capital K: the Disaster, the Katastroph). Well unless you know all this in details, it's rather difficult to really understand how a Greek may approach Roza's of Smyrna story, for it may seem too unreal, too excessive, too over-dramatic. It may be so, yet, there are so many real tragic stories about unthinkable individual human tragedies that took place during and due to those events (the "Katastroph") that for the Greeks, no story connected to those historical events really looks unreal, exaggerated, overblown, or far-fetched. And this one, which is actually a really well made Greek-Turkish co-production is not about bad Turks and their good Greek victims. It's a story about how any ethnic angle of viewing at it may be misleading and underestimating the human factor (the simple ordinary people who are the victims of their national-political leaders)and thus unjust. This is the message delivered to the main character of the film through his investigation and his efforts to unveil the secret that Roza, an old lady descending from Smyrna living in Athens, persistently tries to keep for herself. The title of the film could be "Roza's secret", and i think one may find quite thrilling the process of unveiling it, and once it's uncovered, he may justify the dramatic reaction of its carriers, and thus be really touched and deeply moved.

Very nice film, very emotional

[r-fronimides · 8/10 · 13 November 2021]

I liked it.

It has very strong script/story, the direction is nice, photography is good & nice music too.

Yes, it lacks (a bit) in the dialogues, but not so much as some wrote. Generally, is very good film. It has a lot emotion, drama, its keeping you to the last minute - especially with the nice idea to having the old woman (Roza) keeping a secret in her entire life (and you want to unlock her secret, you want to find it out).

I recommending it.

good for educative purposes

[sakarkral · 6/10 · 23 February 2018]

It would have been far more fair if the title were chosen as "Roza of Clichés". Death after saying the last love words, transformation of a typical hardliner etc... Nothing special. I got particularly frustrated that despite its title the number of scenes set in Smyrni/Izmir is too few. Seriously, why does Roza's story end up in Istanbul, a city which she has no connection, instead of a dramatic return to Izmir?

So the movie is an average one in any sense.

But since it focuses on the lies of nationalist history-writing and promotes the Greek-Turkish friendship, I think this kind of movies must be produced even if they have many flaws like this one. It will help teenagers of both countries overcome the effects of brainwashing of their states.

By the way, the tourist guide in Izmir was Ömer Kavur, who was actually a well-known movie director. Nice reference.

Wonderful love story!!

[pattyapostolides · 10/10 · 18 November 2019]

I loved this story! I have seen it twice, and it's a jewel! The acting is superb, the photography is wonderful, the music is outstanding, and the plot and suspense kept me on my seat. History unfolds in this captivating movie as does the mystery of a woman's stained wedding dress from the time of 1922 Smyrna.

Dimitris is busy preparing for an exhibition in Athens with his girlfriend, Rita. During a trip to Izmar, he finds a wedding dress, stained with blood, and a letter inside addressed to the wedding dress owner, Roza. The dress is antique, during the time of the 1922 event of the Fire in Smyrna. He buys it and plans to use it at the exhibition. Like a detective story, he slowly unearths the truth behind the wedding dress, showing us glimpses of the history behind it and the people and customs of those times. In his search for Roza, he also meets Marianna, a sweet beautiful artist. Their love story is a highlight of the movie. The end is quite revealing and somewhat sad, but I still enjoyed everything about this story!

If you are a lover of exotic romance stories and mysteries, this is a movie for you! I also liked the message it gave - it not only captures a time period in history, but moves beyond it and suggests a better approach to humanity - to love one another, no matter the country you're born in or your religion, and no matter the past.

Meh

[atg_istari · 5/10 · 12 May 2017]

In general a moderate film. It has historical and humanitarian interest, and it is a beautiful story. Unfortunately, the dialog was very very very bad. It was meretricious, unnatural and did not add almost anything to the movie. I struggled in the first half of the movie, but thank God it got better, at least in terms of dialog. It was full of proverbs and sayings. I guess it is worth seeing if you are a middle aged lady that likes the usual drama.

PS: I was enchanted by the Turkish nurse at the end of the movie

When history meets romance

[platreskanaris · 8/10 · 19 April 2022]

The Rosa of Smyrni was one of the most well filmed movies out there. It shows clearly the tragedy of the turkey invasion is Smyrni and how the life of so many people changed forever. Also it shows one century later Greeks and Turks can find common things and stop this hostility between them. The plot was interesting. Besides some parts was boring but the end was fascinating. Moreover the cast was significant and of course the grandmother Rosa was magical.

Getting rid of small-mindedness

[m_durukal · 8/10 · 4 September 2022]

People may hear a lot historical stories and have a point of view from a certain angle. But hearing the same stories from the other side may change that point of view. As the main idea of the movie, when you start to understand the 'others', you will start looking from a wider angle and having a big mind. Fanaticism does not help anything but only losing friends and lovers. A Greek person can be a good person as a Turkish person can. It is that simple. Life does not worth fighting.

Eventually, what this movie leaves behind is an unfinished love story which was not allowed by the parents of a young couple who believes a Greek can not marry to a Turkish.