Freedom's Fury

Hello and greetings to all of you visiting this preview...

As one who took part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and have studied the cause and aftermath thereof, I find the film is an excellent retelling of the events of those days. What makes it specifically valuable, that it was created by non-Hungarians, young Americans without bias Hungarians might have had. The outside onlookers, a far later generation with the objectivity of the time lapsed since, who had to do a lot of research and studying.

This film is considered by many, historians and participants alike, as one of the most historically accurate documentations of the events leading up to the revolution, and the days thereafter.

The underlying story of the Melbourne Olympic Water polo "fight" between Hungarians and Russians while the first war between Socialist Countries, Hungary and Russia was still being fought in Hungary, gives it a social value, interest created by the sport, without emphasizing the street-fights and killings.

To see and hear Mark Spitz at the Los Angeles showing of the film was an extra great bonus. I sure hope, it will be available very soon on DVD.

Colin Gray and Megan started to work on this project about five years ago, with the hope to complete the film for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight.

They did succeed, and congratulations and "Thank you" is well deserved and in order from all of us, who were part of that Revolution, to all of those who helped create the film.

Considering that the events in this documentary took place in 1956, most people out there (including myself) were not alive at the time and only know of the events through history books....if folks bother to read them. I am old enough, however, to remember much of the Cold War and when the US and USSR were at each other's throats--so the context for "Freedom's Fury" is something I do understand. But, with lots of young folks who were born after the fall of the Iron Curtain, much of this film might come as a surprise--and it's a wonderful history lesson about these tense times.

Mark Spitz (yes, THAT Mark Spitz) narrates this documentary about the 1956 Hungarian Olympic Water Polo team and their match-up with the Soviet Union's team. However, before discussing this, the film spends a lot of time explaining the failed 1956 Hungarian revolt against the Soviets. All of the information is well presented--with the usual interviews and film footage. And, in addition to talking about these events, the film ends by showing a reunion of the team--along with a few members of the old Soviet team. I really liked this part--especially since it provided a bit of hope and a nice conclusion to the documentary. Overall, very well done, interesting, uplifting and well worth your time.

This movie's History Channel style of editing, production and scoring cheapen an otherwise riveting story. And while the Soviet Union is rightly portrayed as the imperial aggressor for its murderous response to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, there is little effort to place the narrative in any meaningful context outside a kind of generic idea of freedom. It's hard not to interpret this oversimplification of history as unwitting agitprop for an unstated purpose. But more than this, and to reiterate, there's no need to dumb down and dress up history with crappy canned TV docudrama music, misleading editing, and cheesy graphics. If a story is good, let it tell itself and you won't have to pasteurize it for the masses.

I'll admit I had misgivings. Was this going to be a hackneyed, pathos-dripping American documentary with a naïve voice-over commentary, relegating the "local talent" to the role of extras and curiosities? Within two or three minutes it was obvious it was not - there is a sensitivity and an unhurried feel (though there is action enough for anyone, in and out of the water) to the making of this film that could teach many a lesson. The protagonists are given room to tell their story, and - particularly in the case of those who lived the Uprising and several very articulate and immensely likable members of the Hungarian Olympic side - they grab it with both hands and effectively take things over.

The history, and the tragedy of what went down in the fall of 1956, is also presented in detail and not in sound-bites for the attention-deficient, and you are left with a feeling that everyone involved knew that they were dealing with a subject that deserved their full attention, and that they had amazing picture material that should be allowed to speak for itself. Gripping, heartwarming, uplifting, some seamless blending of archive footage and modern recreations, and worthy of a much larger audience.

Kudos to Mark Spitz, too, for a job well done, but then again, when you read the final credits you know why - how could he have DARED to let his old schoolboy coach down?

As a side observation, it was good to see the members of the defeated Soviet water polo team in good cheer. When the Soviet Union's football team was defeated by Yugoslavia at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, just four years after Tito had humiliated Stalin politically, the players did not fare quite so well. Stalin had expected much more out of the country's first appearance at the Olympics. He immediately disbanded CSKA Moscow, who had provided most of the national side, the result of the game was not published in the USSR until 1954 (a year after his death), and many of the unfortunate players (let's face it, they only had the bad luck to come up against a very very good Yugoslav team, who took the silver medals behind the magnificent Hungarians and Ferenc Puskas) allegedly wound up in labour camps. At least Nikita Khrushchev did not stoop THAT low in 1956. There is also quite a good TV-documentary about this particularly ugly footnote in footballing history, but I cannot for the life of me find it now...

Very interesting documentary about the Hungarian water polo team that defeated the Soviet Union in the semi finals of the 1956 Olympics, and the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets that was going on at the same time. I had no idea any of this took place, so it was a very informative documentary. All of the surviving Hungarian team members were interviewed as well as some of the Soviet members and they told about their experiences before, during, and after the match.

It was well made and well edited, the film-making did a great job with all of the material they had to go through to put it together.

Produced by Lucy Liu and Quentin Tarantino and narrated by world famous swimmer Mark Spitz, I hope this film gets a wider release so that many people can learn about this amazing story.