Voulgaris, who was himself exiled by the Junta to the notorious island prison of Makronissos, here turns the prison-camp experience into a study of authority and resistance that is at once gruesomely realistic and a work of poetic allegory. Based on a novel by Andreas Frangias, Happy Day has the conviction of lived experience. In a camp for opponents of a fascist government, the commandant and his supporters attempt to break the spirit of resistance by assigning endless ritual tasks and making half of the prisoners the torturers of the more resilient other half. On Happy Day, an orchestrated charade honoring the visit of the Great Mother (the Queen), a disobedient prisoner who had chosen death over repentance re-emerges, as if to give his torturer another chance at redemption. "As in The Engagement of Anna, one has the impression that Voulgaris (is) himself a detached but warm spectator who pleads for love and harmony rather than hatred" (M. Georgiadou, Int'l. Film Guide).