25 Apr 2013

The Citroën chase - Pagi village, part 2















After flipping the car over at "the low road" Bond takes over the wheel of the iconic Citroën and the car chase begins. Bond and Melina are follwed by two of Gonzales' black Peugeots through the village of Pagi and the surrounding countryside. The action is supposed to take place in Spain, near Madrid, but was filmed in Corfu, Greece. The cars are driving past the bell tower of a church in Pagi. This architectural character, with the separate bell tower, is strongly influenced by the Venetian style. After nearly 400 years of Venetian rule between the 15th and the late 18th century, the Venetian architecture can still be found all over the island.
                    
                    "You don't mind if I drive do you?"
                                   -Bond to Melina-
As the cars drive through Pagi, a man washing olives from the harvest looks up as they pass his home. This house and the driveway can also be found on location, just 50 meters before the bell tower. The road that runs through Pagi, and past this house, is called 'Epar. Od. Arkadades-Agiou Georgiou' and apparently covers a good part of the north-western part of the island.
Olives in Corfu are harvested from November to April so this is the time to visit Corfu if you want to watch an authentic harvest. Filming in Corfu started in September 1980 and according to the special location section on the Bluray, the scenes in Pagi were filmed in mid-October, which becomes obvious when you compare my pictures from mid-July.
The Citroën is actually passing the church already before the "low road", when entering the village. The steps have been hidden behind an old woman selling flowers. Thanks to the clever filming you never realize the fact that the car went in and out of Pagi the same way.
In the picture above: the bell tower is visible to the right in the curve and this is the same way as the Citroën was driving when entering the village.   

               


                   "Por favor, campo allá!"

The expression Bond uses to get the crowd to bump start the car is "campo allá", which actually is translated to "beyond the field". Bond meant of course to say something like "let's go", but campo allá is evidently a more rural choice of words, which would be appropriate in the Spanish countryside. However, chances are that no one would understand what you mean if you use this kind of expression in central Madrid.



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