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It’s Spring,, 1967. Another season for American ex-patriate hippie-classical music composer/conductor Alan Kewalski to ‘wow’ international audiences with his unique brand of ‘rocking-rebellions’ in service of his REAL bosses, Beethoven et al. A former American draft resistor who went to jail for his convictions, Alan spends his days working with stuffy classical musicians afflicted with ‘dull out virus’, his nights with young revolutionaries-in-training who desperately need his help in areas artistic, political and moral. In his ‘spare’ time, Alan taunts Captain Spiros, a glory-seeking Fascist whose political views keep him from advancing up the ranks, but whose manipulative and sadistic ‘skills’ keep him from getting discharged.
Enter Jennifer Pappas, Alan’s ex-wife, once his most trusted Companion and beloved life-infused ‘co-revolutionary’ musician. Jennifer is now ultra-conservative, politically, culturally AND emotionally, engaged to a lifeless, boring yet highly-powerful American Ambassador, who is Alan’s arch foe. The Greek and American governments assign by-the-numbers Jennifer to work with infinity-is-the-only-number Alan to co-ordinate visits of influential dignitaries and their families. Jennifer finds her Soul startled, then awakened by Alan’s vitality, though she’s still woman-enough to defend the Red, White and Blue and her newly-found Right Wing beliefs against any man, even Alan.
Then…in the dead of night on April 21, Greece, the birthplace of Democracy, is taken over by a Fascist, Right Wing Junta backed by the United States, the new Police State which VERY-forcefully bans everything from men wearing beards to unsupervised meetings of more than 5 people. Spiros finds himself promoted up the ranks, doing his part to ‘sterilize the Communist cancer’ by enforcing bans on free expression in the arts, Alan his main target.
Unable to go back home, but unwilling to comply with the “Christian American” culture of the “New Greece”, Alan does what he can ‘within’ the system to fight back, mostly through his (now banned) music. Before long he’s jailed, subjected to ‘special torture’ in a prison that was used by the Nazi’s during WWII. It’s up to Jennifer to get him out, a process which will require revolutionizing her perspectives and courage in ways she never imagined. It’s up to Alan to…stay Alive.
Comment: Romantic epic, which brings back the ‘golden times’ of the 60s for those of us who lived through them. A believable and colorful love story as well as a saga of political defiance. Liked by baby boomers in general, but no specific demographic beyond that yet identified.
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