From Omeleto.

A young soldier is tested.

OBLIGATORY is used with permission from Eli Staub. Learn more at https://elistaub.com.

An oppressive military regime governs Greece in the 1970s. Elias is a young soldier, hoping to stay safe and live a normal life under the creep of censorship and political suppression. He is pressured by his superiors to show loyalty and conform or risk losing his position.

So far, Elias has managed to fit in but still keep some semblance of his young, hopeful self. But Elias’s allegiances are tested when a former college professor he once studied with is imprisoned for subversion, and Elias is asked to fulfill one final test before his full promotion.

Directed by Eli Staub from a script written by Angelo Pitsillis, this powerful historical drama examines the moral reckoning of a young man caught in the crucible of political and military oppression as he faces a terrible dilemma between his self-preservation and his sense of right and wrong. Elias isn’t a fervent idealist or a true believer in the military junta he serves as a soldier under. He’s just trying to stay afloat, keeping his head down and avoiding notice, and being a soldier is a step on the ladder to a normal life. But when he has to take a direct role in the elimination of his former instructor, Photios, who has openly criticized the government, he realizes just what he has signed up for.

Opening with archival footage from actual events in Greece in the 1970s, the film has a stately, elegant visual approach, with muted, shadowy cinematography and pensive, intimate images that endow the storytelling with a softly distant sense of the past. It deliberately establishes the historical period and atmosphere with just enough information for viewers to understand the stakes and Elias’s character. Elias is young, and his superior officers are harsh, demanding and even threatening as they pressure Elias to fall into line. But he has his small rebellions, like hiding banned cigarettes in his room’s toilet tank.

As Elias sharpens as a character, so does the narrative momentum, especially when he encounters his former teacher, now behind the bars that Elias guards. It’s a shocking, vital encounter, beautifully played by actors Kaj Adnan and Abdullah Khalil as Elias and Photios, who easily fall into the warm, collegial camaraderie between a kindly, engaged teacher and a young, eager student. In a political world where Elias’s encounters are transactional and pressurized, the exchange has a human warmth even through its stress, which makes it more difficult for Elias to endure what he has to do. Adnan’s compelling performance has a natural reticence and uncertainty due to his age, but as he faces what it means to align himself with the dictatorship, his demeanor becomes haunted and weighty as he comes to grips with what he is about to do — and faces a test of his morality and conviction.

Though told with the sweep and resonance of history, OBLIGATORY is a story about life under political repression. But it’s also a coming-of-age narrative, told through the emotional arc of a young man who realizes his choices make him who he is. He also realizes that his hopes, dreams and visions of the life he wants for himself cannot exist in isolation. With these realizations, Elias makes a fateful choice — one that speaks to his new sense of self, and how even the smallest acts can have larger resonance.