Ali Sakiroglou and the other sailors in Greece's large commercial fleet have kept their country afloat for many years. But now Sakiroglu can't even help himself, as he sits in his below-deck cabin on the Captain Vasilis, a 2,000-ton freighter. The tiny, 40-square-foot space is sparsely furnished with a bunk, a table and a DVD player.
Sakiroglou presses the start button to watch a German porno film called "Mermaids on the High Seas." He can't understand what the actors are saying, but that doesn't matter. A heavy rain pelts down on the porthole. The ship has been docked at Elefsina, near Athens for a long time. Sakiroglou offers us schnapps from a plastic bottle with a handwritten price on it, indicating that it was probably purchased on the black market, tax-free. These days, who in his right mind pays taxes in a country like Greece?
