Barefoot Battalion

In Salonika, Greece, in 1953, a barefoot boy named Stavros awakens from his slumbers on a boat and urinates in the sea. On shore, he attempts to steal a purse from a woman in a crowded market area, then runs off. Dimitri, a young man, follows the boy and catches him. He searches the boy and when Stavros begins to cry and says he has no family, Dimitri explains that he only wants to help and that he himself used to steal on the street for a living. Stavros refuses to believe him, so Dimitri steals a wallet from a man buying flowers, then returns it, saying the man dropped it. Stavros suggests they become partners, but Dimitri tells him he is a teacher now and relates the following story: In 1943, during the German occupation, Dimitri, a war orphan, lives with his young sister Martha in an abandoned wrecked boat, surviving on food rations. After the Red Cross dispensary runs out of food, Dimitri finds a group of boys passing bread in a line from a German supply truck into a house. When their lookout sees the German driver returning, the boys scatter. Spying a loaf left on the street, Dimitri picks it up. The German catches him with it and throws him to the ground, calling him a "dirty Greek," then drives off. When Niko, one of the boys, learns that Dimitri's sister is hungry, he goes with Dimitri to the boat, and they bring her with some meager belongings to a ruined castle outside the gate of the city, where they enter a series of caves. Niko explains that most of the boys's parents disappeared when the Nazis took over in 1941. After the orphanages were used for arsenals, the boys fought each other for food, but have since joined together as "The Barefoot Battalion" to provide food for themselves and others, and to work with the underground. When Andreas, the battalion's leader, arrives, he objects to Martha's presence, but relents when she starts to cry. After Dimitri takes an oath never to betray the cause of liberty, to help the sick and helpless, and to defend and protect the oppressed of his country, he goes with Niko to deliver food to the needy. As they give milk and food to Mrs. Giorgas, whose grandchild is hungry, two people enter her home in flight from the Nazis. The woman, Alexandra, who is working with the underground resistance, hides in bed with the grandchild and pretends to sleep while the Nazis search. The man, an American fighter pilot named Joe, who was shot down off the coast, is brought to the boys's hideout. Andreas learns from Alexandra that the underground, which rescued Joe from the Nazis, is trying to smuggle him to Egypt and have contacted a ship captain willing to help, but they need money. The boys steal an olive oil shipment from a black marketeer Nazi collaborator, whom they call "Captain Blackie," and hide it in the caves, planning to sell. When Blackie tells his Nazi partners about the theft, they interrogate him, using Alexandra as a translator. Thinking that Blackie is the thief, they give him a week to recover the oil or he will lose his boat. Blackie finds Niko and Dimitri trying to sell some of the oil, but a Greek officer sides with the boys. Later, Blackie locates some of the boys at a shadow show and then follows them through the streets. When Dimitri diverts the attention of a Nazi truck driver, while the others steal cans of food from the back of the truck, Blackie informs the driver, then beats and captures Dimitri. The boy is questioned by the Nazi captain, but released after Alexandra interprets Blackie's statements inaccurately The collaborator follows Dimitri, who makes it to the caves unseen after an air raid siren sounds, and the Nazis begin to fire at Allied planes. Meanwhile, Andreas arranges with Alexandra to bring Joe and the money to a waterfront café that night, where the ship captain will be waiting. Blackie wanders outside the gate to the ruins and sees boys with a cart full of oil cans. After he tells the Nazis, Alexandra asks Dimitri to warn Andreas. Dimitri brings her to the caves, and Andreas sends Joe to another hiding place until nightfall. As the boys take the oil out to hide it, Blackie sees them and recognizes Alexandra. Blackie climbs the ruins chasing after Dimitri. When Dimitri slips, Blackie catches him and attempts to smash him with an oil can, but Dimitri moves out of the way after getting hit twice, and Blackie falls off the parapet. Before he dies, he mentions Alexandra's name to the Nazis. In the present, Dimitri tells Stavros that Alexandra paid with her life so that Joe could escape and that though stealing was their weapon in the fight for liberty, now, no one must steal. They arrive at the orphans' trade school, where Dimitri teaches, and he invites Stavros to learn a trade. Stavros starts to leave, then tries to return the money that he stole, but Dimitri tells him to keep it. Stavros then walks with Dimitri into the school.