Portugál

I did not expect too much from this movie and it was a very nice surprise. It is a simple and satirical story based on a theatre play, which you can still check out in Katona József Színház if you happen to speak Hungarian. The scene is a small village in the backyard of Hungary, where rarely happen things. Not much (and nothing unexpected) happens in the story either, but the acting sells the movie. Although most of the actors are rather unkown even in Hungary (except Ági Szirtes, who plays an alcohol-addict housewife and was praised by the critics) most of them perform extremely well.

The film takes place in a present-day small Hungarian village in the middle of nowhere. Strangers hardly ever come to this place, everything outside of it seems to be in another world for the inhabitants. But one day everything changes, when a stranger from Budapest enters the pub. He is on his way to a vacation in Portugal and wants to spend some days in this village. He soon starts a love affair with the pub owner's daughter. The ex-policeman of the village doesn't like this at all...

A nicely made film with good actors. Especially Ági Szirtes' hilariously comic but also very touching performance as a constantly drunk village woman is well worth seeing. Unfortunately, the film does hardly ever step out of the village pub. After half an hour or so, we realize that this is indeed the filmed version of a stage play. The plot could also have been shortened a bit - it gets tedious at times. Nevertheless, "Portugál" is worth seeing because of its realistic presentation of village life and the good performances.