Through the cooperation of the Palace of Arts and the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA), this new series will present the finest works of legendary Hungarian film directors. The first half of the year sees digital screenings of a selection of ten films from the life’s oeuvre of Zoltán Fábri. Although the three-time Kossuth Prize-winner Zoltán Fábri occupied pride of place in the display case of Socialist cultural policy, his work as a film director (1952-1983) was de...fined by the banning of his screenplays, so that he conveyed his humanist message about the world, dictatorship and human relationships in a series of literary adaptations that reached an audience of millions. Although he was essentially not an innovator in terms of the language of film, few directors would have as many powerful sequences in a hypothetical reel of the great symbolic moments in modern Hungarian film – from the dramatic merry-go-round scene in Körhinta (1955) to the vacant building site in A Pál utcai fiúk (1968), and from the expressive stadium in Hannibál tanár úr (1956) to Zoltán Latinovits’s major absurdly packing boxes in Isten hozta, őrnagy úr (1969). Not only in response to the constraints of censorship but for reasons of temperament, Zoltán Fábri’s entire life’s work is defined by quality literature. Ten years after 20 Hours in 1965, he again adapted a novel by Ferenc Sánta for film. In contrast to the modernist form of 20 Hours, which analyzes the 1950s from the point of view of the present, the Second World War subject matter of The Fifth Seal evokes an era in isolation. For this reason, it proved particularly well suited for Fábri to portray the morally extreme situations that dictatorship can bring about, those so much favoured by the director from a psychological point of view. In the autumn of 1944, a regular circle of friends in a small bar discuss how to prepare veal, as well as the question of whose fate they would choose if they could be resurrected after death: that of the rich tyrant or the persecuted but honourable slave. Having cast somewhat critical asides against the authorities, they are denounced by a crippled soldier who enters their midst and the next day find themselves presented with the same dilemma in the torture chambers of the fascist Arrow Cross. The book salesman (László Márkus), the innkeeper (Ferenc Bencze) and the joiner (Sándor Horváth) sacrifice their lives to retain their humanity, but the Arrow Cross chief (Zoltán Latinovits) is able to use “refined methods” to break the resistance of the eccentric, seemingly cynical watchmaker (Lajos Őze). How is this possible? Our only clue are a few simple, documentary-style sequences which show sleeping Jewish children lying hidden in the watchmaker’s apartment. Fábri employs an extreme dramaturgical method to enable a moral parable to transcend the mere depiction of a historical period: half of the film’s running time takes place in a single location, where we see the discussions of the company at the table in the faces – and characters – illuminated by the light of a lamp. Although the action does not move forward, the tension nevertheless carries the viewers along, “enclosing them in the film’s present time”. (Miklós Almási) The depiction of the outside world, the surroundings and fantastical Hieronymus Bosch-like visions of the friends returning home from the pub, and the dialogue between the two Arrow Cross men (Latinovits and Gábor Nagy) about the “grilling of the majority” do not carry the same power. Nevertheless, the audience sitting in the cinema in the autumn of 1976 would have watched overwhelmed by the Arrow Cross ideologue in dark glasses: this was to be the last film performance of Zoltán Latinovits. Presented by: Palace of Arts
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
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