Get ready to go to Greece and party like it’s 1985 BC in the charming fish-out-of-water feature A Spartan Dream, directed by M. Achilles. Brad Cavallopoulos (Peter Bundic) grew up being filled with stories about his Spartan heritage by his mother, Chrysanthi (Alexandra Zoe), who later unfortunately died. Brad daydreams of being a Spartan warrior visiting oracles while working as a waiter in the diner his dad, Steve (Dimitris Alexandris), owns.
It was Steve who put his foot down about not having Brad tested for autism, even though Brad sometimes has a hard time arranging all his thoughts. One night, Steve informs Brad that there just isn’t any money to send him to college in the fall. Brad points out that they could sell the family house in Greece to get the money, but is told that it can’t happen because his mother’s brother, Uncle George (Nikos Tsergas), still lives there, tending the orchards.
Brad decides to man up and travel to Greece to kick his uncle out of the house that his mother loved so much. When he arrives in Athens, he stumbles upon a press conference where Mayor Melina Mercouri (Katerina Didaskalou) announced that, ahead of the Queen’s visit to Greece, she has demanded from England the return of the marble from the Parthenon that was stolen in the 19th century.
A key scene from A Spartan Dream featuring General Brasidas in conversation with Brad in a rugged Greek landscape.
“Brad daydreams of being a Spartan warrior visiting oracles…”
Brad chirps in, asking the mayor what about the ships that the defeated city of Athens promised the victorious city of Sparta centuries ago but never delivered. He runs into the cowboy-loving cab driver Roy Rogers (Kosta Koronaios), who shows Brad some more treasure Athens snatched from Sparta on the way to the family house.
Brad gets a warm welcome from his relatives and gets to meet Gorgo (Georgia Mesariti), a girl his age who was orphaned and raised by Brad’s aunt and uncle. Gorgo is just as passionate about the ancient history of Sparta as Brad is, which makes it very hard for him to get up the gumption to throw everyone out on the streets…
A Spartan Dream is overwhelmingly rich in reverence for ancient tradition in more ways than one. While there is a narrative obsession with ancient Greek history, there is also a strict adherence to the ’80s comedy sub-genre of the fish-out-of-water picture. These movies would feature an unhappy, uptight character going to a foreign place where everyone is eccentric and laid back, resulting in the lead eventually assimilating and letting their hair down.
"…on the same level of the best fish out of water classics"
