La juste route

During wars, people do hidious crimes. At WW2 many decent, next door people like you and me, took advantage of the anti-jewish pogrom and stole their property. But the war ended in 1945, and some of them manage to return and reclaim their properties... what happened then? The guilt of course, that's what happened. I think it's the only Hungarian film i have ever watched and if you come across it, don't pass it by. Its a film worth seeing.

Almost to the end of "1945", writer/ director Ferenc Torok keeps the audience in the dark regarding the rationale of the players. It is a masterful screenplay, full of mystery and expectation, which makes the pacing seem sluggish. Gradually, however, the pieces and clues all fit together in this post-WWII story of past betrayal and cupidity.

The picture was shot in black and white and with an authentic feel of a 40's film. Torok assembled a cast of talented actors, most unknown outside of Hungary, and there is not an amateur performance among them. The star is Peter Rudolf who plays Istvan, the town clerk mainly responsible for what has befallen the town, as the two Hasidic men walk slowly into town with their 'cargo'. I am not going to tip off the reasons behind the plot, but "1945" may be the best film that has played on American soil this year. Be prepared to use your best powers of deduction as the tantalizing story unfolds, because this one will require all your concentration.

It's a brilliant story of guilt and buried secrets coming to the fore. Using the aesthetics of a western with direct borrowing from High Noon and from Sergio Leone, especially the waiting for the train scene in Once Upon a Time in the West. But in this case its used to point the complete absence of any real hero from the story. The most heroic act performed by any character in this movie is going away.

This story is a story about all consuming guilt, about petty jealousies and how sin is its own punishment. But above all it's a story of how the war doesn't end when it ends. And it's done with a very competent hand and deep understanding of cinematic media. A very good ensemble of actors, amazing cinematography, great story and superlative directing.

It reminds me "The Visit of Old Lady" by Friedrich Durrenmatt. it reminds the Old Greak tragedies. in special sense. in specific manner. two Jews in a Hungarian village. two hutches. a way. a wedding. memories about dark past. and everything becomes different.

for me, a masterpiece. for the clash between minimalism of the presence of the two strangers and the community storm. for the performances. and impecable craft of story. but, more important, for the status of near story. from the past of grandparents of Central Europe. for the force of cinema to give a sort of social exorcisation. for the art to give the realistic portrait of a world. for define the sin. and the choices behind the deep fears. a film about hidden demons. memories. papers. ambitions of actuary. answer of a husband. indifference of a priest. decision of a son. and the train. in the station of a village.

An unflinching portrait of the power of conscience and the human effect of its avoidance. The post-modern narrative of identity politics and Nietzschean and victim culture here vaporizes into the dustbin of history. Human choices matter. Memory matters. Morality matters. Selfishness and structural, political complicity therewith lead to social disintegration. As C.S. Lewis wrote, revenge is the predictable arc of human affairs. There is only one thing that breaks the cycle of material human history and that is forgiveness. Go. See. This. Film.