The protagonist of The Rocket, of who is also named Ari (perhaps an allusion to classical name for the god of war, speaking to the indignant masculinity with each of the characters), is a twenty-two-year-old beguiling lothario living with his mother in Athens carrying loose plans to study finance in London acts as the film's beginning (of which we see later turns into Milan) and the kinship (or lack thereof) between his friend Stathis and their dramatic and raucous group of friends. The friend group in The Rocket can be seen in their loquaciousness, competitiveness, and quite literally unceasing in their small skirmishes, vying for social credit among each other. As the film is shot with entirely non-actors over the course of four years, the narrative unfolds itself into a story about social competition, primarily through the struggles and trials of Stathis, ultimately culminating in his decision to see the Rocket for himself knowing his friends won't believe him, thus detaching from the need to impress his social group. The homo-social circle of friends is based on a social hierarchy of financial success, sexual and social success, and a larger abstraction of what one may deem as ‘coolness', which is all to say that the friend-group functions through domination, possibly a parallel to the competitive socio-economic environment of late-capitalistic Greece; and like the films, Defunct and Unpleasant, The Rocket ends with a transcendent and optimistic last shot, but again, situated within the established hypernormal tone of the film. It should be noted that while Ari longs for social success and admiration from the friends to a certain degree (however, his purpose is mainly oriented toward sexual experiences-- which of course only empties his heart out in the end), he merely pales in comparison to his best friend, Stathis, a known bluffer, liar and notorious for his mythomania (00:14:12), convinces his the social-circle that he knows about a rocket (of which he hasn’t exactly seen but is aware about), a clear symbol for his acclaim for social validation and superiority within the homo-social group, similar to the Defunct protagonist placing all of his worth and esteem on the successes of his grandfather-- so therefore both the rocket in The Rocket and the sword within Defunct are directly linked to their sub-textual insecurities. As for Stathis, he even goes as far to boast that he has taken a photo of and plans to send to the nation of Turkey or, in a deliberately vague sense, “rivals who don’t participate in this project” (00:35:37) for a sum of three to five million dollars, obviously an artifice that shows the viewer he is living his own illusions, separated from his rueful reality. Furthermore, regarding Stathis turncoat demeanor toward Greece, along with the women’s ‘Americanisms’, their disdain for Greek music (00:37:02), and their jocular references to English words (00:33:53), alludes to a certain identification with a certain globalized youth culture, rather than that of a prideful Greek youth culture which has failed them and left them behind the rest of the Europe and the world.
One pivotal scene, where Stathis’ illusions of the Rocket and his desperate attempts to impress his friends that indeed showcase his hypernormal attitude and his social dislocation, comes after the friend group decides to prank Stathis saying he has broken the law through his knowledge of the Rocket. That of course angers him, as it is clear slander on his value as a man, and he tells Ari to bring the friends to meet him outside of the airbase to prove to them he is not the liar they make him out to be-- a full-fledged attempt to prove himself among his peers and the women of the group and thus propel him into high-esteem within the social-circle. Much of the group of friends agrees and follows Stathis and Ari to the base, where Stathis reveals to Ari that the rocket is not there. Irked and fed up, the women leave calling them "fairies" (00:43:02), leaving the two friends embarrassed, degraded, and emasculated. It is at this time it should be noted that the entire film abides to a particular realist style, the fast paced ‘real life’ dialogue (speaking over each other, the inflectional cadence, etc), documentary-like camera indicates to the viewer that it is as if we, the viewer, are intruding on the lives of these young adults. So then, when the men are emasculated in front of the group of women, reinforced by the realist filmmaking to a vehement degree. In the car, Ari calls Stathis, giving him a second chance to show him the rocket; Stathis denies him at first but changes his mind when their friend, Anne-Maria, agrees to join them on their venture. After five minutes into the base, the three friends are caught by a security guard, and Ari agrees with Stathis to flee the authority and make a last hail-Mary attempt to see the rocket and save Stathis’ social status within the circle; but of course, Ari cannot locate the rocket and overlooks the skyline of Athens, finding himself in a wistful muse that prompts a flashback where it's learned Ari still harbors pain from his ex-lover. The movie then jumps several years later. Ari studies in Milan, no less serious than his twenty-two year old self (also emphasized in his failed self-promise to relocate to London), galavanting with a nameless love interest, which his friends rumor just to be another victim in his promiscuous debauchery, and what makes Ari's character so interesting-- and enforced with the realist style-- is that his flat arc is reflective of Greece's quiescence and social disconnection from the increasingly post-modern world. The realist hypernormal attitude of the characters is more so seen within last sequence. Stathis meets up with the men of his previous social circle, who now describe themselves as adults, and are noted to always tell the truth (01:31:53). Then the film intercuts between Stathis’ usual bombastic braggadocio with the friend-group, showing that Stathis is extant in his obstinate belief that the rocket does indeed exist and his friends refusal to accept his word, and his short-lived reunion with Ari, which is primarily constituted of their standard back and forth rebukes, ending with a quick cut to black-- as if to convey the men will never make amends.
The film ends with Stathis within the Hellenic Air Force, haggling with the military personnel to permit him to see the rocket test with Ari so that he may finally prove to his friends once and for all that he is not a mythomaniac. However, he receives an ultimatum that Stathis does not have clearance to bring Ari, being asked, “What’s more important for you and your life? That they believe you when they see something, or that they believe you because you say it?” Stathis agrees to the latter, the military personnel adding, “Stathis, you exist, even when no one sees you.” The final sequence of the film hint that Stathis has transcended the need for his friend’s validation, solidifying to the viewer that Stathis’ disaffection and incessant angst is a result of him trying to prove himself within the social circle, to be “important” or prove that he is “awesome” (01:36:40). Stathis’ constant need for validation, being rooted in a youthful social disaffection, showcases to the viewers that his specific disgruntlement among the friend-group is a direct outgrowth and informed by the setting, being that it is a place of lost hope and dislocation. The friend's squabbling and futile competitiveness is informed by Greece’s futile socio-economic competitiveness, the hypernormalization of the country, and the longing for purpose within an indifferent atmosphere. With the ultimatum given to Stathis, the film subverts the realist precedent it had set for itself, swelling with a dreamy score, an ethereal amalgamation of synth and chorus, paired with close ups of Stathis, constructively, intercutting between storylines, and culminating within the final shot of the rocket flying through the clouds giving us our bittersweet ending (in the same manner as the other two films) .
While each film has a different thesis that carries themselves throughout the protagonist's journey, each film focuses unto an explicit locus regarding social disaffection and anxiety that is situated within the hypernormal zeitgeist of post-modern Greece. Each film ends in a distinctly bittersweet moment, containing a singular final shot that highlights a general type of untapped potential for their futures (with the exception of Ari in The Rocket, which substitutes Stathis in his place), and they all carry a precedent of ambiguity, which can be likened to the stagnation of the socio-economic status of Greece and a vocation toward success through individuality. As seen with Defunct, Unpleasant, and The Rocket, all of the principle characters carry existential dread, a disquietude within their place as males, and hold attitudes of hypernormalization, of which is informed by Greece as a setting for being a place of lost hope and dislocation.
While each film has a different thesis that carries themselves throughout the protagonist's journey, each film focuses unto an explicit locus regarding social disaffection and anxiety that is situated within the hypernormal zeitgeist of post-modern Greece. Each film ends in a distinctly bittersweet moment, containing a singular final shot that highlights a general type of untapped potential for their futures (with the exception of Ari in The Rocket, which substitutes Stathis in his place), and they all carry a precedent of ambiguity, which can be likened to the stagnation of the socio-economic status of Greece and a vocation toward success through individuality. As seen with Defunct, Unpleasant, and The Rocket, all of the principle characters carry existential dread, a disquietude within their place as males, and hold attitudes of hypernormalization, of which is informed by Greece as a setting for being a place of lost hope and dislocation.