Plot
Twin siblings enduring the harshness of WWII in a village on the Hungarian border hedge their survival on studying and learning from the evil surrounding them.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 6.9/10 (904 voted)
Critic's Score: /100
Director: János Szász
Stars: László Gyémánt, András Gyémánt, Piroska Molnár
Storyline
Twin siblings enduring the harshness of WWII in a village on the Hungarian border hedge their survival on studying and learning from the evil surrounding them.
Writers: Tom Abrams, Agota Kristof
Cast: László Gyémánt -
Twins
András Gyémánt -
Twins
Piroska Molnár -
Grandmother
Ulrich Thomsen -
Officer
Ulrich Matthes -
Father
Gyöngyvér Bognár -
Mother
Sabin Tambrea -
Officer's Friend
Péter Andorai -
Deacon
Diána Kiss -
Maid
Orsolya Tóth -
Harelip
Enikö Börcsök -
Harelip's Mother
János Derzsi -
Shoemaker
Lajos Kovács -
Policeman
András Réthelyi -
Orderly
Krisztián Kovács -
Soldier
Taglines:
In Hungary during World War II to survive is everything.
Trivia:
Official submission of Hungary to the Oscars 2014 best foreign language film category. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 10/10
jkbonner1 has written an excellent and in-depth review of the movie,
all I would like to add is that this is the first and only movie that I
have ever seen that I think succeeds in realistically portraying the
devastating human aspects of WWII on a personal level without resorting
to sentimentalism or nostalgia. Although gruesome with plenty of
disturbing scenes, it is not grotesque. For me the only movie that
comes close would be Apocalypse Now - which is, of course, a very
different movie but I think similar in that both give a glimpse of the
inhumanity and insanity of war. I also really admired about the movie
that every key character undergoes a complete transformation - it
presents us with an initial situation where it seems obvious who is in
the right and who is "evil", and succeeds in turning everything upside
down by the end of the movie, including our own definitions of right
and wrong and good and evil. The movie does of course have some
inconsistencies, some scenes appear highly unlikely and the boys seem
to meet with every misfortune imaginable. But I think such criticism is
beside the point. Through the eyes of the boys we are shown events that
did happen over and over again to thousands of people. And in the end
it is up to us to consider what is "good", whether we have a right to
judge any of the characters in the movie, and given such circumstances
how much of our own humanity and values could any of use have
maintained? BTW I signed up to IMDb just to be able to share these
thoughts with you about this movie :-) and I "look forward to" one day
reading the book the movie is based upon (Agota Kristof: Le grand
cahier).
0