A very quiet and understated picture. It’s purpose entirely is to reveal the complicity, guilt and regret of a small Hungarian town who’d profited off the expulsion of the towns Jews. It’s a sad picture, as solemn as the subject matter. The film never strives to write a searing exposé, but rather a slow and truthful unravelling of a morally corrupt, nameless town. Why nameless and featureless? Because this town represents many towns across Europe. Untold millions quietly profited off the destruction of the Jews. They moved into their homes, took over their shops, and profited off the remains of many families.
This is an important film because the subject matter is rarely dramatised; for a number of reasons I imagine. Namely, what national cinema would encourage a scathing critique of its own country? “The past is the past. Leave it where it belongs!” I can tell you secondhand that unlike Germany, there are few and varied Eastern European countries willing to confront their complicity and profit from wholesale slaughter. This guilt may have died with a generation, but their stories must live on.
The Jewish population of Poland in 1938 was 3.3 Million. 10% survived. Those who did, would return to Poland or other Eastern European countries and find a region-wide pogrom taking place. Many Jews survived the entirety of the war to return to their home, and be shot dead by their neighbour. Today’s Jewish population in Poland is between 7,000 and 40,000. The Jewish cemetery of my grandfathers home town lies in ruin. Their stories erased by time and quiet complicity. The content of this piece is certainly more engaging than the telling, but it’s an important film nonetheless due to its unique perspective.
1945 - a contained narrative of life immediately following the war.
Film making notes:
The blocking felt quite stilted at times. My guess is that this was due to budgetary limitations and a need for long, quiet scenes to play out in singular takes. (Or maybe I’m wrong, and this was just a choice.) A substitute to over-heightened character intrigue was often ‘sit down’ then ‘stand up’ then ‘take a glass of water’ and ‘consider turning off the radio.’ I think had the film spent more time in Close Up and less in long-running Mid to Wide Shots, it would have created a stronger affect. I should have liked to envision this film with a richer interplay of character, the minimalist approach to the stories telling was well executed - just not my style. They found a tone, stuck to it and told their story effectively with it.
I did find a dissonance between the score and the picture however. I’ll admit my ignorance and say nothing rang a bell as a clear influence for the films score, but it did seem tied to thematics and not the scenes themselves. A subtle reflection of the simmering guilt beneath the towns innocent veneer.