Country: Austria
Year: 1969
Duration: 83'


In 1919 mysterious men hide out in puszta. They are deserters from the Great War, revolutionary peasants who are avoiding prison, and members of a Catholic sect who believe in the love of Christ. Vie leader of the communists is a young teacher, Uranusz, while the head of the sect which has the emblematic name, "The Open Door" is his brother, who has himself called Father Simon. The events that go along with the rise and fall of the Republic of the Councils crisscross with their ideological clashes. The utopian aim that both of them desire is the same a world based on brotherhood and justice but the ways they choose to get there are different, as are the instruments in the struggle. Father Simon is a pacifist. Uranusz is for the use of violence whenever it is necessary. Both find their death over the course of events that proceed like the Passion, marked by the canonical stations of the cross as well as by a folklore ballad.

"Since the time of Enek a búzamezokrol (The Song of the Wheat Fields), Istvan Szots's film has stayed shut in a closet. No one has tried to analyze the causes and nature of the messianic movements of the peasants. Gyongyossy takes on this delicate theme in a provoking way. [...] The clash between the virtues and the errors is not resolved even in the concluding scene of the film. The final resolution offers yet more opportunities for Gyongyossy's artistic talents and atmospheric creative power." (Andras Fodor, "Filmkultura", 6/1969)

Biography

film director

Imre Gyongyossy

Cast

& Credits

Director and screenplay: Imre Gyongyossy.
Director of photography: Ferenc Szécsényi.
Editor: Mihaly Morell.
Music: Balint Sarosi.
Cast and characters: Frantisek Velecky (Padre Simon), Benedek Toth (il maestro Uranusz, suo fratello), Gabor Koncz (pescatore), Maria Meggyesi (sua moglie), Sandor Komives (rabbino), Philippe March (ufficiale francese).
Production company: MaFilm (Studio 1), Budapest.
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