Sad news has hit the film world today, especially for those interested in Hungarian cinema. Legendary Hungarian writer/director Peter Bacso has died at the age of 81. I'm pretty sure Bacso is not known to many American audiences but the very point of this blog was to inform readers of movies and directors they may have otherwise never heard of.
Bacso is probably best known for directing the political satire "A Tanu" (The Witness), which I will now be sure to include in my "Masterpiece Film Series" due to his death.
The film made in 1969 got Bacso in a lot of trouble. It was banned by the Communist Party and wasn't released until 1979. Bacso was banned from making films for four years due to his friendship with then Prime Minister Imre Nagy. After Nagy was put back in power, due to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, Nagy was shot two years later. This made political satires such as "A Tanu" extremely personal for him.
Some of his other, more notable, works as a director include "Sztalin's menyasszonya" (Stalin's Girlfriend), Te rongyos elet (Oh, Bloody Life) and his most recent film, which is still working the film festival circuit, "Majdnem szuz" (Virtually a Virgin).
Besides directing, Bacso started off as a screenwriter. Two screenplays he wrote were directed by another legendary filmmaker, Karoly Makk. Their work together on "Szerelem" (Love) has made that film endure as a classic of Hungarian cinema during the Communist era. Their other film "Egy Erkolcsos ejszaka" (A Very Moral Night) tried to mix old v.s. new. I have reviewed it on here if you are interested.
Bacso will be sorely miss. He was a very talented director whose work will hopefully live on now that he is gone.
Here is a link to a interview Bacso gave last year during the 40th anniversary of Hungarian filmweek.
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