Az ötödik pecsét

Gets off to an amazing start, with the first 40 or minutes or so being confined to one location, and centring on five men having intense philosophical/political conversations. One stirs things up as the evening's winding down, then everyone's a mess for the second act, and then this war drama becomes a bit more of a war film in its final act, and it kind of comes together... well, it comes together enough.

So where the film ends up certainly isn't terrible, but could perhaps be a bit on the nose. I think The Fifth Seal really flounders throughout its second act, though, and makes the whole thing feel a bit uneven.

I can't deny there are some amazing parts to this film at least, most of them contained to the first 40-ish minutes of the film.

I really can't describe the joy of discovering this movie. A unique experience that combines art, meaning and an exceptional technique of cinematography. The depth on the characters build up, the unbeliavable script and the absolute rhytm makes this movie a total monument in what the art of cinema stands for. I really suggest you to watch this film. The feelings and the tense which brings to the viewer cannot be described. A true masterpiece from the titles of the beginning to the last scene!

This film takes place in Budapest during the German occupation of Hungary toward the end of World War 2. As it so happens, four men are sitting at a table in a bar when a stranger hobbles in and asks to join them. After learning that the man was a soldier who was wounded during his service the talk subsequently takes a philosophical turn when a watchmaker named "Miklós Auricular" (Lajos Öze) tells a story and then asks a philosophical question which haunts each of these men the rest of the night. The question, essentially, is whether it would be better to live as a slave and endure severe abuse but have a clear conscience or to live as an abusive slave owner and have no conscience at all. Although they each reach various conclusions their beliefs and values are soon put to the test with surprising results. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a deep but rather dark film made even more interesting by the historical context involving the Russian offensive into Hungary. Also worth mentioning is the fact that this film won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival along with being nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1977. That being said, I thought it was a good movie overall and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

All I can say is "so what?" for this movie. There's no conclusion, and no proper ending. What did you guys want to tell the audience by making this movie?

There is really hard to find words to describe this MASTERPIECE! The top of hungarian movie making for sure! An absolute must to watch!