Shadow on the mountain (In Development)

MFI Script 2 Film workshop

supported by the program «Sub.5 Greek Film Centre: Film Production Support Program» |funded by the European Commission – Next Generation EU, in the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “GREECE 2.0”.

Logline

When the man she blames for her son’s death escapes justice, a mother decides to punish him on her own terms.

Synopsis

Vangelio, a worker in her forties, struggles helplessly to cope with the suicide of her underage son. Convinced that her child was abused by Kostas, a music teacher and her former lover, she blames him for his loss, but he easily manages to escape, with the local community on his side. Vangelio takes refuge in her son’s classmates, who she believes know about Kostas’ activities, but the indifference and suspicion of the small community scares the children and Vangelio isolates herself further. The local policeman Babis, the only one who wants to help her, is unable to do so without clues. Seeing the abuser walking free with the wishes of their fellow citizens, Vangelio despairs and decides to take matters into her own hands. A tough huntress who knows the mountain well, she sets a trap for Kostas, forcibly takes him up the mountain, to the place where her son died, stays with him for a whole night, torturing him and demanding from him, but in vain, to confess to his deed. The police find them, and after a fierce scuffle, Vangelio ends up in hospital. Kostas is reassured, believing that the case is closed for him and his reputation is no longer in danger. However, another boy, Nicholas, also a victim of Kostas and their closed society, who has been afraid to tell the truth all this time, can no longer bear the unjust outcome and reveals Kostas’ actions to Babi, who is arrested. In a brutal escalation at the police station, Nicholas shoots him, offering the defeated Vangelio a life-saving way out. The woman unhesitatingly takes the murder, vindicating her son, herself, and offering the boy a second life.