Hungarofilm Bulletin 1979/1 [antikvár]

Hungary, early this century: Two families personify opposing social forces. They are; the Zsadányis, a dynasty of landowners, and András Öreg Baksa and his people, a family of farming folk. Phases of early 20th century Hungarian history are mirrored in the turns and switches of the course as the destinies of the two families are shaping up. An atmosphere of unclouded peace and serenity typical of the turn-of-century belle époque reigns as an elegant party is thrown out of doors to celebrate the young Zsadányi boys getting a commission as army officers. In the background, the Zsadányis' country house, a building that for all its simplicity radiates self-assurance and superiority. Some idyllic shots and sequences follow, with a military brass band providing an offering of brisk marches alternating with sweet waltzes. The gentlefolk are taking their pleasure in a graceful if ceremonious manner that finds its counter-point in the carefree merry-making of the villagers. The popular jollity is not only different in manner - it is also being held on a different occasion: the village folk are getting ready vote in an election. The gentlemen's party is headed by Zsadányi the elder. He and other stump orators deploy all the paraphernalia of their party — chauvinistic, jingoist demagoguery, much ranting about the virtue of being trueborn Magyars, and making whopee to the accompaniment of gipsy music. All that is designed to camouflage their real goal of preserving the old feudal order. Opposed to them are the peasants led by András Öreg Baksa professing mesianistic socialist teachings to back up their demands for land, civil rights and liberty. Feeling runs high, and tempers get out of hand: the clash degenerates. A bunch of facetious peasant lads humiliate the Zsadányis by breaking up the celebrating party of gentlefolk with some water-bags. The young Zsadányis take a bloody revenge. Supported by a posse of gendarmes, they invade Baksa's farmstead, pick the old man off, and put his son and adherents to the torture. This bloody settling of accounts, the maltreatment and humiliation of the peasants in an extreme sharpening of conflict between the two families, symbolically indicates that a turning-point has been reached in the destinies of the nation as well as in those of the protagonists of this story. The pace of the action now quickens. Great historic moments come to life in successive flashes in a whirling multitude of realistic shots and visions. World War I breaks out. The Austro-Hun-garian Monarchy breaks up. Hungary bled white in the war, the soldiers finally mutiny on the war fronts. István Zsadányi, a young army officer, orders the ranks to be decimated, but his order isn't carried out. The 1918 Revolution breaks out. Counter-revolutionary forces are organizing themselves. The two brothers, István and Gábor Zsadányi, are among the first men to join the counter-revolutionary white terror detachments. They want to restore Hungary's "departed glory". At this point, István Zsadányi cannot yet see through the machinations of the politicking aristocrats and big landowners, but it begins to dawn on him that, though he and they are on the same side, they are not fighting for the same ends. He watches the developments incomprehending; but as the true meaning of notions like the People, Country and Nation becomes increasingly clear in his mind, he sees with growing understanding and clarity that the course of his life is moving away from his class and bringing him closer to Baksa and his like - and he is beginning to have qualms about the centuries-old oppression of that class by his own kind, and on top of that he has a feeling of personal guilt preying upon his mind. At the end of "Hungarian Rhapsody", in place of the picture of a dashing, self-confident young officer of the hussars, we see a lonesome István Zsadányi, a person in despair who is tortured by remorse and feelings of uncertainty. The rhapsody, which started off with a bang - the brisk tunes of a military brass band and charming waltzes — ends with the, whimper of painful, harrowing strains.