The Revolution Will Be on Film

 Lyukas Zászló - Revolutionary Flag with a Hole

On October 23, 1956 revolution broke out in Hungary. Students protested in the streets and cut the communist symbol out of their flags, leaving a hole in its place. At first it seemed a success, where chants of "Ruszkik Haza!" (Russians go home!) were met with the Russians actually going home. Imre Nagy, the prime minister, made plans for a new democratic government. It seemed like the tiny Hungary force had defeated the mighty Russian empire, until the Russians turned their tanks around the crushed the revolution with full force.

It's said that the revolution didn't fail, it just took several decades to succeed. Thirty-three years later, on October 23, 1989 communism officially fell in the country and the Third Hungarian Republic was declared. Since then it has been a national holiday and the subject of a number of films. For those who want to improve their Hungarian and celebrate the holiday as well, here is a review of some films dealing with the revolution or the communist era. If you were able to get a hold of all of these films, you could actually have a pretty decent (and fairly depressing) film festival. In reviewing them, I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but it's kind of like avoiding spoilers in Titanic. You know the boat is going to sink in the end, and in the case of these films you know that the Russians are going to come back in the end.


Napló Gyermekeimnek (Diary for my Children)
Directed by: Márta Mészáros, 1984, 106 minutes.

Juli and János

I know this technically takes place a little bit before 1956, but I feel like it sets the stage well for what happens later. Also, it was the only of these films actually filmed during the communist period, at a time when criticism of Stalinism was more acceptable. It's also directed by one of Hungary's most famous directors, Mészáros Márta, who also directed a later movie on this list. It centers around Juli (Czinkóczki Zsuzsa), who is taken to her new adoptive family. Her father was an artist, and so he did not fare well when the communists came to power. Her new adoptive mother is Magda (Polony Anna), who is a ranking member of the communist party. Juli doesn't like her adoptive mother or the things she stands for and constantly misbehaves. She often ditches school to go to the cinema, and a lot of the film involves actual movie footage from the era (including an eerie propaganda piece where a party member chastises a music conductor for being too bourgeoisie).   Juli feels closer to János (Jan Nowicki), another member of the communist party, but who is an engineer and is less ideological than Magda or the other members of the party. 

There are some fantastic scenes in this film. One involves Juli going to a classmate's birthday party. The classmate's father is a high-ranking member in the party, and so no one everyone is a little on edge and afraid to enjoy themselves.

Napló Gyermekeimnek is available from Amazon in the US and UK. Since it was made in the communist era, there is no inappropriate language or violence.

Szabadság, Szerelem (literally "Freedom, Love"; Released as "Children of Glory")
Directed by: Goda Krisztina, 2006, 123 minutes.

 
Trailer with English Subtitles

Of all the films on the list, this seems the most like it could have been produced by Hollywood. This may be because several of Hollywood's Hungarians worked on the film. The screenplay was written by Joe Eszterhas (who also wrote Basic Instinct and Showgirls) and the film was produced by Andrew G. Vajna (who produced the Rambo and Terminator films). It also seems to follow the same formula as Titanic or Pearl Harbor in that it takes a historic event and frames an unlikely love story around it. In this case, our star-crossed lovers are Károly (Fenyő Iván), who plays for the national water polo team, and Viki (Dobó Kata), a student and leading member of the revolution. It also features Csányi Sándor as another water polo player, which is only worth mentioning since he's also in Kontroll, which is an awesome movie in its own right, but it has to do with subway ticket checkers, not the 1956 revolution, so I'll end this digression here.

The film starts at a water polo match in Russia, where the officiating is clearly rigged, so the Russians win. After the game, Károly gets in a fight with one of the Russians. Upon his return to Budapest, he is picked up by the ÁVO, the Hungarian secret police, where he basically gets a slap on the wrist and is told not to hit the Russians back. He later finds himself at the university at a student rally, where word of the uprising in Poland is given to the students. Viki gives a big speech and helps organize a solidarity march at Bém square (named for the Polish general who fought for Hungary in their 1848 revolution). At first, Károly is simply attracted to her, but he later becomes a full believer and participant in the revolution. Together they manage to find themselves at all the important events of the revolution; they go to Kossuth square in front of the parliament building and hear prime minister Nagy Imre's speech, and they are present when the ÁVO opens fire from the Hungarian Radio building. After fighting the Russians off, Károly goes back to his water polo team to prepare for the Olympics. When the Russians return, Viki is still in Budapest, but Károly is on his way to Melbourne (where he ultimately plays in the famous "Blood in the Water" match). Spoiler alert: Things end really well for only one of them.

Of all of these, I think this one is probably the best place to start for people who are not familiar with Eastern European cinema (since it feels more like a Hollywood production). It also provides the best overview of the revolution, making it again a good place to start. Still, I would actually say it's probably the weakest of all the films on this list.

Szabadság Szerelem is one of the easier of these films to get your hands on. It is available on Amazon in the US and the UK. It has several scenes of intense violence, some language not appropriate for children (since several of the main characters are water polo players), and a brief sex scene with female nudity.

A Nap Utcai Fiúk (The Sun Street Boys)
Directed by Szomjas György, 2007, 89 minutes.

The boys and Juli in front of the Nap Filmszínház

This film takes also takes place in the days following October 23, 1956, only it's much smaller in its scale than Children of Glory. It's the story of some boys from Pesterzsébet, an outer suburban district of the city. They hear about the revolution and want to join up so they can shoot Russians. They choose to defend a city block on Nap Utca (Sun Street) and make a movie theater on it their base.

Getting ready to light a Molotov cocktail

With nothing but guns and Molotov cocktails, they take down a Russian tank. As teenagers, they're very interested in the West, as seen by the fact that once the Russians leave, one of the first things they do is procure a copy of American rock music to dance to. When they're not defending the theater, they watch movies, including what appears to be a Stalinist propaganda film.

Gábor and Juli share a victory dance

The focus of the film is actually much more on the love triangle between Totya (Czecző Sándor), the leader of the group, Juli (Gáspár Kata, daughter of Bánsági Ildikó, who was Juli's actual mother in Diary for my Children), his girlfriend, and Gábor (Bárnai Péter), Totya's best friend and the narrator of the film. The film has more to do with their relationships than water polo matches or the fall of Budapest.

A Nap Utcai Fiúk is not available on Amazon. It could be purchased and shipped from Hungary directly from this website. It has some scenes of violence, but they aren't as bloody as Szabadság, Szerelem. There is some inappropriate language, which is to be expected from teenagers.    


A Temetetlen Halott (The Unburied Dead)
Directed by Mészáros Márta, 2004, 127 minutes

Nagy Imre in solitary confinement

I actually saw this one in the theater when I first lived in Hungary, since they took all of the seniors at the school I worked at to see it. There were no English subtitles, and my Hungarian at the time was very weak. In addition, at the time I really didn't know anything about the 1956 revolution, so I couldn't fall back on previous knowledge to follow the movie. A Temetetlen Halott focuses entirely on Nagy Imre (Jan Nowicki, who also played János in Diary for my Children), who became prime minister of Hungary during the brief period when they were free from the Russians. The film starts with his giving a speech at the window of the parliament building to the excited crowd on the evening of October 23, 1956. His plans for the government are foiled when the Russians return, and he and his families take refuge in the Yugoslav embassy (which still stands in Budapest off of Heroes square as the Serbian embassy). A deal is made with the Russians where he believes they'll let them all go home. Instead, he is taken from his family.   

The new Russian-approved government needs a scapegoat for the revolution, and they choose Nagy to take the fall. A good portion of the movie consists of interviews and a show trial where they try to prove that Nagy was responsible for the rebellion, but he holds firm throughout.

A Temetetlen Halott is available from a third seller on Amazon in the US. There's really no violence or inappropriate language, though like all of these films, it really isn't appropriate for children.


Moszkva Tér (Moszkva Square)
Directed by Török Ferenc, 2001, 88 minutes

One of the most important squares in Buda is Moszkva square, or Moscow square. At least it was. In 2011 the government changed the name back to its precommunist name, Szell Kálmán square. This was especially confusing the last time I was in Budapest on a bus I thought was going to Moszkva square, but then I couldn't find the stop anywhere on the train schedule.

Buli, csajok, verda - Party, girls, cars

In the film, Moszkva square is where a group of high school students hang out in 1989, just a few months before communism comes to an end in Hungary. History is happening all around them, but they're too interested in girls, cars (even if it's the cheapest, ugliest car they can get) drinking, making money by forging train tickets to the West, and cheating in school to even notice. And speaking of history, they're all in history class together. In one of the opening scenes their teacher informs them that on the exit exams the years of the communist era won't be covered. Holding up the textbook he says, "There are a lot of good things in this book, but strictly speaking, most of it is not true." Later, there's a great scene where they're all watching the news, and it's reported that Nagy Imre is going to be re-interred. None of them knows who Nagy Imre is, and one suggests that he might be related to Nagy Lajos (who was king of Hungary in the early 14th century).

Petya and Zsófi

The film's main protagonist is Petya (Karalyos Gábor) who is also romantically interested in his classmate Zsófi (Balla Eszter, who is also in Kontroll), and both are very good in the film. I also really like how much of the film takes place in a school, since it reminds me a lot of the two years I spent working in schools in Hungary.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any place that will import this film to the US. I did see a copy of the entire film on YouTube, but it doesn't have English subtitles. There really isn't any violence, but there is a lot of teenage drinking, plenty of language my mother wouldn't approve of (it would be a good primer for learning Hungarian profanities), and some nudity. 

Bear in my mind that nearly all those are going to be Region 2 DVDs, and so you would need a player that is capable of playing it.

Another film option would be the documentary Freedom's Fury (2007), which is about the aforementioned blood in the water match. I haven't seen, so I can't review it. What about you? If you've seen any of these films, what do you think? Are there any that are missing from the list? As always, feel free to leave a comment.