Directed by:
Zoltán FábriScreenplay:
Zoltán FábriCinematography:
György IllésComposer:
György VukánCast:
Lajos Őze, László Márkus, Ferenc Bencze, Sándor Horváth, István Dégi, Zoltán Latinovits, Gábor Nagy, György Bánffy, József Vándor, Noémi Apor, Ildikó Pécsi (more)Plots(1)
The film takes place in the Autumn of 1944. In the pub people are talking about their acquaintances, how to prepare the veal, and also that if they had a chance to resurrect after their death, whose fate they would choose: that of the rich tyrant, or the much tortured, but honest slave. The next day they all get into the torture chambers of the Hungarian Nazi and they face the same choice. If they are willing to slap on the face of a half-dead, tortured Communist, they are let go. Király, the book salesman and his companions give their lives to be able to remain human. The watch-maker Gyuricza however, takes even humiliation upon himself just to be able to save the Jewish children hidden in his apartment. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (3)
A very disturbing film that accentuates not only the Second World War but above all how people treat each other, what they say to each other, or rather, what they don't say. At first glance, it's just a regular gathering of a few friends, but it's actually a much darker game that escalates in the last third.
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A human face fascinated by a piece of meat, which will soon transform into it. Will it be transformed by the hands of fascist butchers or by its own hand? We must admire how Fábri was able to capture this transformation with the claustrophobic grip of a dimly lit camera in the first part of the film. The question of how to properly handle meat is not as difficult as whether it is worse to become a piece of meat passively enduring its fate under the butcher's knife or to become an emotionless master of the world. The film shows that neither position is morally superior. The constant reversal of moral superiority shifts guilt and bliss of conscience from one character to another, only for the one who most consciously approaches the position of a slave with a clear conscience, unburdened by the weight of the world, to become the most despicable informant, and for the uninvolved cynic to become an unknowing supporter of the life force for others, which he had to deny at first glance in order to gain it. It is as if moral opposites were not different in anything, not even in the fact that "evil" lies in "consciousness."
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A film that will blow you away if you listen carefully. A depressing psychological analysis of one of the most important moral issues in human history in one of the smartest pieces of cinema ever made. Ignore the few WTF art compositions and listen, listen, listen.
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Gallery (34)
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