Hideg napok

Set in 1946, this movie deals with the planning and execution of the January, 1942 Novi Sad massacre of 4,000 Yugoslavian Serbs and Jews by Hungarian army units. It was undertaken as a reprisal for a partisan ambush (in which 17 soldiers were gunned down). And it is mainly explored through the reminiscences of four participants--Major Buky, Lieutenant Tarpataki, Ensign Pozdor, and Corporal Szabonow--cell-mates awaiting trial. Ultimately, however, what you get is an extended debate over issues of individual responsibility.

(NOTE: This should be a plot summary since the existing one is not written in English. However, I cannot seem to access that category.)

'Cold Days' has the honour of being one of the 'Budapest 12', in other words one of the twelve best Hungarian films made between 1948 and 1968. Adapted from the painstakingly researched novel by Tibor Cseres and directed by András Kováks this excellent film reconstructs the Novi Sad massacre of 1942 in which 2,500 Serbs and 800 Jews were shot by Hungarian army units and their corpses dumped through pre-made holes in the frozen River Danube. The atrocity itself and the events leading up to it are recounted by three officers and a corporal in a prison cell awaiting trial by the post-war People's Court. Their recollections are of course complementary, contradictory and full of self-justification although not one of them maintains that he 'was only obeying orders'. Although not involved in the shedding of blood they all bear a heavy responsibility. The characters are well drawn and the acting is of the highest standard. At one stage the major finds out from the corporal that his wife was among those slaughtered. As a race we are used to seeing and reading grim and ghastly news about tragedies involving a mass of people but it is invariably the personal, individual tragedies that touch us most deeply. The monochrome cinematography by Ferenc Szécsényi of the ice, the white of the prison walls and the grey uniforms serves to heighten the effectiveness while the film is topped and tailed by the sparse music of Bartok. Kovács has had the courage to depict a shameful blot on his country's history and in doing so has given us a film that is utterly compelling.