Review by christopher-underwood

Beautifully photographed and conceived but far too uncompromising for those unaware of the politics of the time portrayed. There is no explanation as to what is going on and no exposition except a montage of rather blurred images of supposed dignity and military persons at the start. The long and measured takes are visually effective with a sparkly populated landscape pitifully evident but because of lack of editing Jancso seems to feel the need for his characters to walk about all the time, seemingly aimlessly. I know that after the First World War there was a push for power by the communists in Hungary and that there was resistance from a nationalist right wing alliance and although this is not mentioned in the film seems to be the reason for the disturbance. There is an undercurrent of sadism, not uncommon in the director's work, and a constant feeling of dread. For me Jancso dealt with all this in The Round Up (1966) which is a far more satisfying film. I assume there was a desire here to stretch the long takes technique and experiment with the form, unfortunately this does not make for easy viewing.