During one of the three days I spent in Budapest, Hungary this past semester on the Europe Intercultural, I decided I wanted to watch a movie. Our hostel was blocks away from the Hungarian National Film Theater, a grand old theater with three screens dedicated to showing a mix of national and pan-European independent films. After checking what was showing that evening, I randomly settled on the shortest Hungarian-made movie on the list: “Magyarázat Mindenre” (“Explanation for Everything” in English). It turned out to be an incredible choice and my favorite movie that I saw across the whole trip.
Explanation for Everything explores what happens when unprepared high school student Abel fails his oral final exams. Due to him unintentionally wearing a pin of the Hungarian flag during the test, his conservative father blames his liberal history teacher for the failure, and claims he’s anti-Hungarian. The story blows up into a nationwide scandal once an ambitious reporter decides to write a story on the “unfair” happenings. Seeing a movie set in Budapest after I had spent the previous three days exploring the historic city was a unique experience. The movie also dealt closely with contemporary political issues of nationalism and sensationalist media while still remaining grounded as a coming of age story. I found it to be funny and original, and the soundtrack was moving and worked really well with the shots. I thought the characters were well developed and nuanced. Everyone was easy to sympathize with, but I particularly loved the history teacher character Jakab. I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged to explore what else Hungary’s film industry had to offer.
This spring, I made good on that commitment. The next movie on my list was “Kontroll,” a thriller that takes place entirely underground in a fictional metro system. The movie was filmed exclusively within the Budapest Metro System, opens with a delightful disclaimer by a representative for the metro system assuring audiences that the film you’re about to see is fictional and in no way representative of what you’ll encounter in Budapest. He’s good to give that warning. The movie is about a small group of ticket inspectors who find themselves in a rivalry with another group of inspectors and in danger from a killer who pushes people onto the tracks. It’s a really atmospheric movie that uses the dark tunnels and grime of the platforms to keep you on your toes for the entire runtime. The characters are not exactly likable, but all are engaging. Some of the shots were really cleverly done and reminded me of the Coen Brothers filmography. All in all, it’s one of the most unique movies out there and I’d highly recommend it to anyone, whether they’re interested in the Budapest Metro or not.
Other movies I saw during this exploration included two movies about the 1956 Olympic Semifinal Water Polo game between the USSR and Hungary. You might think two movies about this comparatively obscure historical event is excessive, and to that I would say that you must not know much about Hungarian history. In the fall of 1956, a group of Hungarian university students and anti-Soviet demonstrators launched a twelve day uprising, before being brutally suppressed by Soviet reinforcements. This event was incredibly important to modern Hungarian national identity, and still exists in the memories of many today, and also happened to overlap with the 1956 Olympics in Australia. The match between the two rivals got incredibly heated, and is known as “the bloodiest water polo match in history.” “Children of Glory ” is a very standard adaptation of events, though it occasionally veers into propaganda. The documentary “Freedom’s Fury” is marginally more interesting, and I really loved the interviews with the actual players. It did a great job of educating me about the importance of the match and the short lived revolution. I think somebody should make a third movie about it.
I unfortunately ran out of time and space to mention the incredible animated films of Marcell Jankovics and the wild ride that is the vampire drama Comrade Dracula. I’d definitely recommend all these movies and hope to continue to explore the more renowned offerings that Hungary has to offer.
