The Ogre of Athens

The events take place over New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day in Athens. The city’s festive atmosphere collides with crime as Thomas grapples with his mistaken identity and the gang’s criminal scheme. The night spirals from chance encounters to a fatal revelation, underscoring a fleeting, ritual-like arc from disguise to tragedy.

The story unfolds in Athens’ bustling urban core, including the cabaret scene that thrives against the backdrop of the city’s historic sites. Piraeus is referenced through Roula’s backstory, hinting at a wartime bombing that shaped her world. The Temple of Olympian Zeus looms as a symbolic backdrop for a plan to steal a sacred pillar, anchoring the plot in a recognizably ancient-city setting amid modern crime.

🕵️‍♂️ Identity

Thomas inherits the Dragon persona by resemblance and circumstance, blurring lines between innocent man and criminal surrogate. The film explores how identity can be performative, especially under pressure from a ruthless underworld. The moral struggle to resist participation in theft clashes with external pressures and a desire for belonging.

🎭 Underworld Stage

The cabaret becomes a theater of power where loyalty, manipulation, and ambition play out like a show. Characters perform roles they don’t fully understand, using performance as a shield and weapon. The balance of control shifts as the gang catalogs desires and vulnerabilities, culminating in a ritualized set-piece threat to all involved.

🕊️ Freedom

Roula’s longing to escape the cabaret mirrors a broader wish for personal freedom from exploitation. The moral tension intensifies as Thomas contemplates breaking away, only to be drawn deeper into the gang’s world. The narrative questions whether true escape is possible when survival depends on complicity and identity.