Torzók

I wonder if viewers sometimes give a film low marks not because it's poorly made, but because it's a film that doesn't deliver a happy ending, nice and tidy--just as others can't stand The Sound of Music because the finale, though cherry, is overly simplistic, given the circumstances. Abandoned is about the way some institutions operated in Hungary at a certain time and place, the way government at all levels abandoned it's responsibility as did parents and teachers and those in charge of children. This is not a make-believe Rodgers and Hammerstein song-fest with happy kiddies mindlessly dancing by the riverside, but a grim and realistic picture of the hopelessness of a happy future when the system fails everyone. It is not a cheerer-upper but a well-acted film accurately reflecting a time and place--so if you're looking for children rising above a situation over which they have no control, this is not the film for you. But it is an often compelling film which was meant to make a positive difference, and as such, one gives it credit.

Arpad Sopsits directs a monumental movie in Torzok. Not the Hollywood honey- smeared teddy-bear story. Here, with a masterful skill, he tells a story that, sadly, was and is frequent everywhere in the world.

Abandoned by his hating father, Aron is thrown into a world of despair and violence. Endured stoically by the children in a communist-era orphanage, their plight is fundamentally surviving.

The way the director-writer casts special spells on some of his characters, makes this film incredibly unnerving, disturbing. The ominous dread of injustice just around the corner, behind every door, at the lips of the traitors, is enough to keep the children in a tense and maddening situation.

What makes this film so special is that Sopsits deals with the forbidden in a way that transcends beauty. The beauty of childhood. The beauty of innocence. Against the hatred and folly of the torturers. Religion and religious spirit play a central part in this play. The story unfolds with lots of different wings. Every one of them of different colours and hues. But all of them masterfully intertwined to let the story flow.

This film can leave you shattered and shivering. Maybe sobbing in frustration and anger. But the nuances of love, moral spirit and unbreakable will in the children, are more than enough to praise this work as a very deep reflection on good and evil. As a key to try solving the innermost doubts we all have some time in our lives. And to centre our motivations in thoughts of hope, that are always the flames that kindle the human spirit, no matter the age.

Since my view of most films is, first, as a cinematographer, I'd like to comment on it, too.

The approach to this film is minimalist. Lighting is kept to its bare minimum, pushing film to all what it can give in available light situations. The scenes are lit and photographed in such a way, that effectively conveys the mood of the story.

Almost complete darkness is used in some very disturbing scenes. There's no place for joyful moods, except in some of Aron's dreams, that are ethereal and surreal, but extremely powerful. The operation of the steadicam in some scenes is perfect. Everything fits in place to tell the story. And never wanders into worlds of glamour, flashiness, silky and smooth images. The director and his DoP did a job that is almost never seen in big productions. And, from my point of view, this kind of approach leads to realistic images and straightforward story telling.

The transfer on DVD is pristine. The sound is absolutely amazing, with a score that may be one of the most naturally haunting I've ever heard, relying mostly on cellos and upright bass. I think there should be a special prize for After Crying... the music is perfect.

Winner of so many awards, this film has not been released in Britain and was not shown except in festivals.

Torzok a.k.a. Abandoned is set in a Hungarian orphanage in 1960, which means pretty much anyone watching the movie is simply an alien to the subject and setting. But it captivates you, teaches you, and delivers an excellent medley of emotions. The boys, the good teacher, the nasty headmaster, the lady.. Everyone's showing pearls of acting! The soundtrack is good too. By the time I'm writing this review, the movie is rated 6.4 on IMDB, and that's absolutely underrated. I wasn't impressed by the ending, but other than that the movie was quite fascinating. A Swedish movie called Ondskan, which is somewhat similar to this one in subject, is considerably better. So if you like this one, you should see that one too. But then again, if you like that one, you should see this one too! I think Abandoned could have been longer, and the ending could have been much better. Nonetheless, it's a marvellous movie and I'll give it an 8.5/10 easily.

Abandoned also known as Torzok is a powerful movie. It was made in Hungary and is a fine example of the East European cinema. Its director Árpád Sopsits shows the reality of a reformatory school during a communist regime in the country. He uses the yellow color to separate the dream like scenes from the rest - this color technique is later used in the movie Traffic. The movie portrays the harsh reality of the live in Hungary from that time because it is actually based on the writer/director's own childhood.

The main character is Áron - a boy send to a reformatory school not because he has some something , but because his mother is sick and the father does not want to take care of his son. Once in the school Áron has to face the initial hostility of the lands there towards the newcomers - including beatings and hard words .He manages to survive through all those harsh moments and is soon accepted and befriended by the boys from the school.

The actors in the movies are exceptionally talented despite their young age and the characters they portray come to live - each with its own uniqueness. The overall atmosphere is dark and the movie can be considered as hard to watch by anyone - probably the only one witch harsher atmosphere on a similar topic was in the movie Song for a raggy boy . The few moments of hope which the viewers can observe are directly related to the friendship between Aron and another student Attila as well as the one with his melancholic teacher Gálffi - who seems to be the only teacher from the reformatory school who cares of his students and opposes even the despotic director of the institution.

Some of the scenes are really cruel - in one of them one of the teachers makes few boys to beat a friend of theirs themselves because he prayed to God - which was forbidden during the communist years. The cruelty in which the boys in the school are treated is awful and I do not buy the statement of their directors - that this is the only way to prepare them for the reality outside .

The soundtrack is very powerful -classic music mostly - a bit of melancholic as well - it really contributes to the overall atmosphere.

We have all (or at least I have) seen tons of stories about kids growing up in an orphanage, without the loving care of parents. You can watch this film as if it were another one of these stories. But it isn't.

Though I suspect at least part of the story is autobiographical, Arpad Sopsits manages to turn it into an allegory of dictatorship. Though the boys are completely cut off from the outside world (they do not communicate with anyone from there), the atmosphere pretty much models the general feeling in Hungary after the cruel suppression of the 1956 revolution. Religion is severely punished, humiliation takes place every day, children are made to spy on one another. Nyitrai, the only humane teacher, is known to have been in prison after the revolution, and now finds escape in astronomy and music. The head of the institution is himself scared stiff of the State which might find out if he gets too lenient. When a sadistic teacher is criticized for his methods, he replies: "I'm cruel to them because the world is cruel, too. I'm just preparing them for what to expect outside." The possibility of an idealized, innocent childhood is lost for these children.

My parents grew up at the same time as the film takes place. They never encountered such cruelty; nevertheless, I think the film is entirely realistic. Some comments say they can't really identify with this story as it takes place in a very different country. But think it over: does it? I think any dictatorship, big or small, operates the same way. And it is usually invisible to people not directly affected by it.