Moszkva tér

Only movie made since 1989 to really be able to explain the end of Communism, and they did so by showing it through the eyes of 18-year-olds who didn't really understand it themselves. The comment about Csalamade is extremely profound. It described the crappy nature of things back then in those days, which, none the less, we've become nostalgic for. And most all of things described, really did happen: The exam questions were leaked. Young Hungarians got their first chance to travel through Western Europe on those forged train tickets. And a Hungarian graduation ceremony really does look like that. Director still had the same sense of social accuracy in his latest film, Season, but he missed the profound statements he gave us in Moskva ter.

The movie takes place in 1989 when I was 15 years old and thanks to my clear memories, I must admit that the director managed to catch the atmosphere of the period. It was a time of big changes, the communist system collapsed, a "great" Hungarian leader died while a very important historical character, Imre Nagy, executed after the 1956 revolution, was finally given the honor of being buried. The setting is also excellent, the movie really looks as if it was shot in 89. For foreign viewers however this film doesn't say much because it's full hidden of jokes that only we understand, for example when the boys are sitting in a cab singing the horrible Opus song Life Is Life and at one point in the lyrics they sing Levelet Kaptam Life, because in the 80s nobody knew what the singer says there. What I missed was the lack of the depth of the characters and the plot wasn't very strong either but we mustn't complain because Moszkva Tér is a massive standout in contemporary Hungarian cinema.

I just saw this movie in what I think is the only movie theater in Budapest playing it with English subtitles. Situated in Budapest in 1989, is the story of a group of fellow students at a secondary school, and their graduation in the transition times before the collapse of communism. Simple, fresh and and with an optimistic feeling. Maybe a little bit too innocent. It lacks from any long and slow scenes I was expecting from what I think is the first Hungarian film I saw. I won't say is anything brilliant, but I liked this refreshing view of the particular way of the Hungarian.

You'll probably go out of the cinema with a smile on your face.

This is a great movie about the Budapest and Hungary at the "turn of the systems". The movie was made a decade after the change, yet it presents an incredible level of details about the life and people of the 1990's. It presents well how students spent their free time and weekends, the type of parties they attend, movies they watched and teachers they had in the secondary school. It also presents the true event about the leak of the final, graduation exam questions (the audit truth is that those exam questions were leaked by the son of a politician (social party member - later prime minister). This leaking resulted that the final history exam results were canceled all over the country in that year.

First of all, I'm Hungarian. And I just happened to be a student at the time of the fall of communism. I think that this movie has captured it all. Every scene reminds me of something, every scene is a hit. The dialogues are perfect and the acting is surprisingly good (for newer Hungarian movies!). The last line of the movie sums up the whole feeling of this era.

Best movie, lots o' fun!...but only if you have the same experience as me. You have to be a young Hungarian to enjoy this movie. Otherwise, you just won't get it. You'd think it's slow, clumsy, low on moral etc.etc... But that's the way we were!!! A direct hit. Go see it, it will help you see things from another point of view!