Watching a documentary such as this one, it is incredibly difficult to not find yourself in a rage at the subjects of the film. Me, being someone who has his heart in Greece is especially inclined to have an emotional response when I see and hear the real thoughts of those who are reversing a country's development back to the route of ruin. It is also difficult having been present in Thessaloniki during recent demonstrations concerning the renaming of FYROM. Therefore, I have given myself plenty of time since watching the documentary to writing this review to try to understand the perspective of those who wish to bring back the incredibly dangerous dogma of nationalism and socialism that was such a cataclysmically terrible recipe in the past.
Golden Dawn Girls, a 2017 film directed by Norwegian Håvard Bustnes, follows three women who are part of the Greek political party Golden Dawn. The women, Ourania Michaloliakou, Evgenia Christou, and Dafni Iliopoulou, are related to high ranking members in Golden Dawn and are the core characters of this film. The core question that I want to tackle that the film presents is if these members of Golden Dawn are Nazis.
Nazi has become a word that we see thrown at numerous politicians, pundits, and speakers around the world. Nazi literally is a shortening of Nationalsozialismus, national socialism, the ideology that National Socialist German Workers' Party followed during the time of about 1920-1945. Despite the dissolving of this party and the Third Reich we still hear this word used today to label those who are racist, nationalist, homophobic, and/or anti-Semitic. Looking at these members of the Golden Dawn it is easy to label them as all the above, and so the term Nazi very easily comes to mind. Perhaps the crux of this film is the use of this term to label these women and that is where the problems lie as they will continually deny it as well anybody who is called such a powerful term.
Being represented as a Nazi is an impossible dilemma even if one chooses to believe the same ideology that the Germans held from the end of World War I to the end of World War II. Being called a Nazi completely negates any political or economic message that you wish to send. Looking at the past, one can find many similarities in the intense hardships that Germany endured following World War I and Greece following the 2008 market collapse. Especially since Greece was not guilty of attempting to have a war with all of Europe, it is even in a tougher position as it was a victim of bad politicians and over-borrowing. Therefore, one should not be surprised to see such groups rise from the Greek economic ruins that also rose from the German ruins.
This is where we begin to have an issue representing this extreme right-wing group to prevent further radicalization. What Golden Dawn Girls attempts to do is to characterize the women and the followers of Golden Dawn as Nazis, and in doing so it immediately stifles any possibility of a discourse between those who are politically and economically reasonable and those who are extreme. The film focuses so intensely on this word and language that it fails to analyze all the cognitive dissonance in the arguments of those who are members of the Golden Dawn.
For example, there is a scene where Evgenia Christou and Dafni Iliopoulou are shown a video of Golden Dawn members attempting to be police by examining immigrants who have stands at markets and their licenses to see if they are legally allowed to be there. This argument proposed by Evgenia and Dafni attempts to take the video which shows violence and then twist it as a display of righteousness and vigilantism to uphold the law of Greece. Further into the documentary we witness Dafni go into a tavern and then speak with the owners of the tavern about Golden Dawn. In this scene, she lights up a cigarette inside at a public place which is against Greek law. What the documentary fails to do is to call out the Golden Dawn on their lawless activities and hypocrisy, which this smoking event is a small example of. Instead the filmmakers continue to use logical fallacies such as ad hominem attacks, loaded questions, strawman attacks, and appeals to emotion.
As a viewer of this documentary, I had to give myself days to cool down because I was so angry at these people who are members of the Golden Dawn that I could not properly examine the methods the film is using. For example, we learn that two Golden Dawn members were killed and instead of the filmmakers condemning this action in anyway, they leave the topic behind. While many watching this film from a western liberal perspective will not feel remorse at the death of bigots, it is nonetheless completely wrong to murder those who hold a different belief from yourself.
As someone who is a liberal it is impossible for me to agree with those of the Golden Dawn. Nationalism, however, is a popular idea in Greece given evidence by a recent poll from Public Issue which shows that 65 percent of people oppose the Prespes agreement and only 17 percent are in favor. What the film fails to capture are that some of the beliefs of Golden Dawn are mainstream beliefs that many Greeks have. For example, all one has to do is look at the public opinion surrounding the Prespes accord to see that many Greeks hold some nationalistic beliefs. Furthermore, one can examine the strong Orthodox Christian belief structure in the country and the political and social values that the Church instills on its members to further understand the conservatism that is present within Greece.
The film fails to do any of this and instead focuses on these women who had roles in Golden Dawn. The film leaves the viewer with an interview of Ourania the daughter of the leader of Golden Dawn refusing to admit or deny that she is a Nazi. One cannot help to see the stress the filmmakers put on this word and the failure to provide a solution to the problem or a way out for the Greek people.
Golden Dawn Girls, a 2017 film directed by Norwegian Håvard Bustnes, follows three women who are part of the Greek political party Golden Dawn. The women, Ourania Michaloliakou, Evgenia Christou, and Dafni Iliopoulou, are related to high ranking members in Golden Dawn and are the core characters of this film. The core question that I want to tackle that the film presents is if these members of Golden Dawn are Nazis.
Nazi has become a word that we see thrown at numerous politicians, pundits, and speakers around the world. Nazi literally is a shortening of Nationalsozialismus, national socialism, the ideology that National Socialist German Workers' Party followed during the time of about 1920-1945. Despite the dissolving of this party and the Third Reich we still hear this word used today to label those who are racist, nationalist, homophobic, and/or anti-Semitic. Looking at these members of the Golden Dawn it is easy to label them as all the above, and so the term Nazi very easily comes to mind. Perhaps the crux of this film is the use of this term to label these women and that is where the problems lie as they will continually deny it as well anybody who is called such a powerful term.
Being represented as a Nazi is an impossible dilemma even if one chooses to believe the same ideology that the Germans held from the end of World War I to the end of World War II. Being called a Nazi completely negates any political or economic message that you wish to send. Looking at the past, one can find many similarities in the intense hardships that Germany endured following World War I and Greece following the 2008 market collapse. Especially since Greece was not guilty of attempting to have a war with all of Europe, it is even in a tougher position as it was a victim of bad politicians and over-borrowing. Therefore, one should not be surprised to see such groups rise from the Greek economic ruins that also rose from the German ruins.
This is where we begin to have an issue representing this extreme right-wing group to prevent further radicalization. What Golden Dawn Girls attempts to do is to characterize the women and the followers of Golden Dawn as Nazis, and in doing so it immediately stifles any possibility of a discourse between those who are politically and economically reasonable and those who are extreme. The film focuses so intensely on this word and language that it fails to analyze all the cognitive dissonance in the arguments of those who are members of the Golden Dawn.
For example, there is a scene where Evgenia Christou and Dafni Iliopoulou are shown a video of Golden Dawn members attempting to be police by examining immigrants who have stands at markets and their licenses to see if they are legally allowed to be there. This argument proposed by Evgenia and Dafni attempts to take the video which shows violence and then twist it as a display of righteousness and vigilantism to uphold the law of Greece. Further into the documentary we witness Dafni go into a tavern and then speak with the owners of the tavern about Golden Dawn. In this scene, she lights up a cigarette inside at a public place which is against Greek law. What the documentary fails to do is to call out the Golden Dawn on their lawless activities and hypocrisy, which this smoking event is a small example of. Instead the filmmakers continue to use logical fallacies such as ad hominem attacks, loaded questions, strawman attacks, and appeals to emotion.
As a viewer of this documentary, I had to give myself days to cool down because I was so angry at these people who are members of the Golden Dawn that I could not properly examine the methods the film is using. For example, we learn that two Golden Dawn members were killed and instead of the filmmakers condemning this action in anyway, they leave the topic behind. While many watching this film from a western liberal perspective will not feel remorse at the death of bigots, it is nonetheless completely wrong to murder those who hold a different belief from yourself.
As someone who is a liberal it is impossible for me to agree with those of the Golden Dawn. Nationalism, however, is a popular idea in Greece given evidence by a recent poll from Public Issue which shows that 65 percent of people oppose the Prespes agreement and only 17 percent are in favor. What the film fails to capture are that some of the beliefs of Golden Dawn are mainstream beliefs that many Greeks have. For example, all one has to do is look at the public opinion surrounding the Prespes accord to see that many Greeks hold some nationalistic beliefs. Furthermore, one can examine the strong Orthodox Christian belief structure in the country and the political and social values that the Church instills on its members to further understand the conservatism that is present within Greece.
The film fails to do any of this and instead focuses on these women who had roles in Golden Dawn. The film leaves the viewer with an interview of Ourania the daughter of the leader of Golden Dawn refusing to admit or deny that she is a Nazi. One cannot help to see the stress the filmmakers put on this word and the failure to provide a solution to the problem or a way out for the Greek people.
