Genre: Drama
Director: István Szöts
Starring: Peterke Ferency, Alice Szellay, Janos Gorbe, Nandor Bihary
Duration: 88 min.
Summary:
A Hungarian woodcutter moves his family to a remote home in the
Transylvanian mountains, believing they will live a more prosperous
life. Soon thereafter, the family is beset with multiple hardships and
tragedies, leading the man to tortured regret over his decision.
Men on the Mountain is the second film in my ongoing Spotlight on Hungarian Cinema. It was directed by István Szöts and is based on a novel by József Nyirö. Released in 1942, the film received the Biennale Award at the 1942 Venice Film Festival. In 2000, it was also chosen by critics as one of the Budapest 12, a list of the 12 best Hungarian films.
This is a mesmerizing film that attempts to show the life and hardships of a poor and illiterate young family living in the Carpathian mountains of Hungary. It is a bleak but interesting story of human struggle with a very realistic feel to it, as their lives get disrupted by a continuous set of circumstances and tragedies beyond their control.
The impact of this story is felt through some natural acting performances from the cast and some very good cinematography. Unfortunately the copy I saw looked very worn and dated, but the stunning visual style was still evident, and able to truly relay the feeling of life in the wilderness, especially in the first act of the film, and aided the storytelling with a couple of well executed point of view shots. I hope that one day this will get the decent digital restoration that is deserves.
7 comments:
I think this is great. Someone as popular as yourself looking at and reviewing Cinema that would normal pass us by. Thank you so much!!
Hop you are well
Custard
It doesn't exactly sound like a feel good movie. Perhaps too bleak for me.
'bleak' eh? I'll pass on this one.
Thanks for the encouragement. I know these posts won't bring in many hits but I don't think I could blog just for the traffic.
If there's such a thing as a "feel bad movie" this would qualify
Thanks for this, it sounds grim, how does the ending pan out?
omg the last pic, dude has some serious balls (im afraid of heights)
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