The theme: a windowed and old-fashioned School master is trying to survive by repeating the stories of glorious times of his nation. He represents the right-wing and faithful in the pre-1981 Greek state that find difficult to adjust and accept the failures of the representatives in achieving a well and democratically governed "Politia" (state).
He tries to establish an idealized world to defend him from what is in reality a psychological wreck: he remarries a colleague and holds on the idea that his first son who studies in Europe will one day return and fulfill his dreams (the country recognizing his own values and ideology via the success of his first son).
The conflict of the era, the suppressed (for almost 30 years) recognition of the left-wing supporters in the modern Greek history and the need for changes in the educational (and social) system are represented through two strong events: the love of his unsuccessful second son with a co-student of communist origin and the dramatic return of the well educated but unemployed first son.
For a Greek viewer the story would have been more realistic if it had taken place a decade prior to the date that it was released. It is expected that this movie had played a different role at that time (1981: the same year that the socialists came in power in Greece)compared to the experiences of a modern young viewer. The film is in great part outdated and it requires very good knowledge of the Balkan and Greek political realities. It lacks in objectivity in many dialogs and it clearly uses generalizations for some historic events e.g. argues the role of the greekorthodox church (claiming a negative role) for the whole last 2 centuries based on individual experiences of the heroes etc.
Good points for the modern and young Greek viewer: 1. The same questions are still not answered regarding the future of the qualified unemployed Greek scientists. 2. The traditional Greek anankastic and over-protective behavior of the father, who will go to extreme to provide education for his children but at the same time will go to extreme to save their "face", a social interpretation of his own "face" in the small Greek society.
