"Metromuz nerede?"

Yaklaşık iki hafta önce, bir arkadaşımla sinemaya gidip, "The Bricklayer" adlı bir filmi seyrettik. Tipik bir aksiyon filmiymiş, ama seyretmek istediğimiz sebebimiz vardı. Bu film Yunanistan'da, Selanik şehrinde çekilendi. Ve biz, üç yıl önce Selanik'e tatile gittiğimizde gördüğümüz yerler Amerikan bir filmin merceğinin içerinden nasıl görünürdü merak ediyorduk.

Bir sahnede büyük bir kamyon şehrin manzarasını olan kafeye çarptı. O kafe bana biraz tanıdık geldi.
"Ey, kahve içtiğimiz yer orada!", dedim arkadaşıma.
"Bir dahaki sefer kahve için başka bir yer bulmak zorunda olacağız", yanıtladı bana.
Ekranda hatıraların ve kartpostalların raflarının, masaların ve sandalyelerin paramparça olduğunu gördüm. Selanik'e gittiğimiz zaman o karpostallardan bazılarını aldığımı bile hatırladım. Eğer bir daha şehre ziyaret etsek o kafenin yerinde ne bulurduk merak ettim.

Başka bir sahnede, iki baş kahramanı bir yere gitmek için metroya binmişler. Ama gerçekte Selanik'te metro yok! Daha da garip bir şekilde, Selanik metroyu uzun ve ağrıtan bir hikayesi var. Yaklaşık otuz yıldır metronun işleri başlayıp duruyor, ve Selanikliler metroyu beklerler ve metroyu görmezler. Nasıl onlar filme tepki verdiler merak ediyorum. Belki birisi onlarla dalga geçmiş gibi hissetmişler. Belki de, metronun tamamlanması için umutları yine de artmış, bilmiyorum.

Her neyse, film çok eğlenceliydi.

Πριν περίπου δύο εβδομάδες, πήγαμε με έναν φίλο μου στο σινεμά για να δούμε ένα έργο με τίτλο «The Bricklayer». Ήταν μια συνηθισμένη ταινία δράσης, αλλά είχαμε λόγο που θέλαμε να το δούμε. Αυτό το έργο γυρίστηκε στην Ελλάδα, στην πόλη της Θεσσαλονίκης. Και εμείς ήμασταν περίεργοι να δούμε πώς θα φαίνονταν μέσα από τον φακό της Αμερικάνικης ταινίας τα μέρη που είχαμε δει όταν είχαμε πάει εκεί για διακοπές πριν τρία χρόνια.

Σε κάποια σκηνή ένα μεγάλο φορτηγό πέφτει πάνω σε μια καφετέρια με θέα στην πόλη. Η καφετέρια μου φάνηκε κάπως γνωστή.
«Βρε, εκεί είχαμε πιει καφέ!», είπα στον φίλο μου.
«Την επόμενη φορά που θα πάμε θα πρέπει να βρούμε άλλη καφετέρια», μου απάντησε.
Είδα στην οθόνη τα ράφια με τα σουβενίρ και τις καρτποστάλ, τις καρέκλες και τα τραπέζια να γίνονται χίλια κομμάτια. Θυμήθηκα μέχρι και ότι είχα πάρει μερικές από εκείνες τις καρτποστάλ όταν είχαμε πάει Θεσσαλονίκη. Αναρωτήθηκα τι θα βρίσκαμε στη θέση εκείνης της καφετέριας την επόμενη φορά που θα πηγαίναμε.

Σε κάποια άλλη σκηνή, οι δύο πρωταγωνιστές παίρνουν το μετρό για να πάνε κάπου. Αλλά στην πραγματικότητα η Θεσσαλονίκη δεν έχει μετρό! Κατά ακόμα πιο περίεργο τρόπο, το μετρό της Θεσσαλονίκης έχει μια μακριά και πονεμένη ιστορία. Για περίπου τριάντα χρόνια οι εργασίες ξεκινάνε και σταματάνε, και οι Θεσσαλονικής μετρό περιμένουν και μετρό δε βλέπουν. Αναρωτήθηκα πώς να αντέδρασαν με την ταινία. Μάλλον θα ένιωσαν ότι κάποιος τους κάνει πλάκα. Μπορεί πάλι, να αναπτερώθηκαν οι ελπίδες τους για την ολοκλήρωση του μετρό, δεν ξέρω.

Πάντως η ταινία ήταν πολύ διασκεδαστική.

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About two weeks ago, I went to the cinema with a friend to see a movie titled "The Bricklayer". It looked like a commonplace action movie, but we had a reason for wanting to watch it. The movie was shot in the city of Thessaloniki, in Greece. We were curious to see how all those places we saw when we went to Thessaloniki for a holiday would look through an American film's lens.

At a certain scene, a big truck rammed onto a café with a view of the city. The café looked somewhat familiar.
"That's where we went for coffee!" I told my friend.
"Well, next time we'll have to find another café", he replied to me.
I saw on the screen all the shelves with the souvenirs and postcards, the chairs and tables being crushed into pieces. I even remembered that I had bought some of those postcards when we had been to Thessaloniki. I wondered what we'd find in the place of that café the next time we'd visit the city.

During another scene, the two protagonists board the subway to go somewhere. But in reality, there is no subway in Thessaloniki! In an even weirder way, the Thessaloniki subway has a long and painful story. For almost thirty years, construction work for the subway start and stop, and the residents of Thessaloniki keep waiting for a subway they still haven't seen. I wondered how they reacted to the movie. Maybe they felt as if someone's cracking a joke with them. Then again, maybe they got back their hopes for the completion of the subway, I am not sure.

The movie was quite fun.