Prone to victimhood and border syndrome: precarious border subjects in Hostage and Correction

Abstract

This article examines the growing fascination of Greek film-makers with immigration to think further on belonging in contemporary Greek cinema. Two case studies, Omiros/Hostage and Diorthosi/Correction imagine the migrant as a victim of an intolerant host society that erects tangible and symbolic borders that maintain migrants in a perpetual state of entrapment. Victimhood is essential to the favourable image of the migrant as a tragic outsider who does not unsettle an established social hierarchy, contesting thus the potential of both films to encourage greater inclusion. The author argues that although the films fail to promote a radical departure from mainstream media discourse, Correction affords thought-provoking insight into migrant identities on an extra-textual level. An investigation of the film’s creative context, which sees Albanian migrants transcending all borders and collaborating with Greek film-makers as equals, reveals the exciting potentials that transnational film-making poses to film scholarship. This article therefore aims to demonstrate that a more inclusive constellation of identity and cultural belonging can often be identified in the creative context of films.