"The Corporal & the Others" *** (out of ****)It has been a long time since I have reviewed a Hungarian movie on here. I did a mini review last month for a new Hungarian film, "Taxi-dermia" (2009), but the last time I wrote a longer review was back in March, after the sad news of Peter Bacso death. I included his masterpiece "The Witness (A Tanu, 1969)" in my "Masterpiece Film Series".
In a strange way that is fitting. "The Corporal & the Others (A Tizedes meg a Tobbiek, 1965)" like "The Witness" are both satires on outside forces occupying Hungary. There was a time "The Corporal & the Others" was a very well known film, to Hungarians. I'm not sure what its reputation is now, but I can assure you it is not known in America. In fact it has never been available on VHS or DVD. I saw a Region 2 DVD, which will be your only way of seeing it.
As someone who tries to keep up with all the masterpieces of cinema, from all countries, it embarrasses me to admit, it was only recently I saw this movie. And as I say, at one time it was considered an important film in Hungarian cinema.
Back in 1969 some Hungarian filmmakers and critics got together and assembled a list of the 12 greatest Hungarian films made between 1948 and 1968. "The Corporal & the Others" made the list. Also included were "Szindbad" (1971), at one time thought to be the single greatest Hungarian film ever made, Zoltan Fabri's "Korhinta (Merry-Go-Round, 1956), I've included this in my "Masterpiece Film Series". It was the movie which put Hungary on the cinematic map. And Istvan Szabo's "Apa (Father, 1967)", which signaled the beginning of the Hungarian New Wave. So "The Corporal & the Others" was in very good company. It even swept the Hungarian Film Week Awards, the major film festival in Hungary. It won the grand prize for "Best Picture", "Best Director" and "Best Leading Actor".
But why am I telling you all of this? Because I would like to persuade you to see it. Maybe if I recite all of the film's accomplishments it will excite you to see it, because you will feel you are seeing something "important". I'd also like people to see this because I feel in America people overlook Hungarian cinema. The films rarely get distributed here, but many of the classic works of Istvan Szabo, Miklos Jancso and Karoly Makk are available on VHS and DVD.
Hungarian cinema actually has a rich history and some true masterpieces have come out of their. I've reviewed several of them already here. One reason "The Corporal & the Others" may not have had great cross-over success in America was because of the filmmaker. The movie was directed by Marton Keleti. His name means nothing to American audiences. I'm not even sure if any of his films are available for home entertainment. In Hungary, in his day, he was well know and had many obstacles to over come.
"The Corporal & the Others" lightly touches on a few of them. Between the war years, 1939 - 1944, Keleti was banned from making films because he was Jewish. Throughout his career he would direct 50 films. His first was Viki (1937) and he continued working right up to his death with the film "Csinom Palko" (1973). His highlights might be directing the first post-WW2 film, "A Tanitono" (1945), "Ket Vallomas (Two Confessions, 1957)" which starred the great Mari Torocsik, considered by many as the finest Hungarian actress. The film was nominated for a palme d'or at Cannes. And "The Corporal & the Others". But even I am not very familiar with his work in the same way I am Istvan Szabo for instance.
"The Corporal & the Others" takes place in the last days of WW2. Hungary had sided with the Germans but the Russians were slowly moving in. This has caused several soldiers to desert. One of them is Corporal Ferenc Molnar (Imre Sinkovits, who won the "Best Actor" award for his performance at Hungarian Film Week). He has actually stolen the pay roll for his battalion and has run off. He finds himself at a deserted mansion which is still being run by the butler, Albert (Tamas Major, who worked with Istvan Szabo on "Colonel Redl" (1985) and "Mephisto" (1981).
What Corporal Molnar doesn't know is that the mansion is currently occupied by other deserters; Eduard Galfy (Ivan Darvas, this is one of his early roles but he would become a very famous actor working with Karoly Makk on his masterpiece "Szerelem (Love, 1971)" and in a way its sequel "A Long Weekend in Pest and Buda (Egy het Pesten es Budan, 2003)" Makk's final film and ranks among his best) and two privates, Imre Gaspar (Laszlo Kozak) and Gyorgy Fekete (Gyula Szabo). These men must band together and hide themselves from the Germans and the Russians by constantly changing uniforms. If some Germans come in, they put on Russians uniforms and scare the Germans away or vice-versa. This leads one character to say this is the history of Hungary, always changing her uniform.
And that ladies and gentlemen is the whole point of the film. Hungary has always been occupied by outside forces; the Turks, the Austrians, the Germans and the Soviets. The only things that separated them was the uniform but when you're the one being occupied all uniforms tend to look the same, so what's the difference?
That may not sound like an Earth scattering message, but, please keep in mind when this film was made the Soviets were occupying Hungary. To make a film condemning Communist would get you in trouble with the censors. Peter Bacso's "The Witness" was banned in Hungary, not being released until 1981.
One of the deserters wants to stop fighting because he is a Hungarian communist and sees no reason to fight his fellow comrades. Initially the others, including the Corporal are disgusted to hear such talk but he proves useful to the group when he suggest they help a wounded Russian soldier, Grisa (Lajos C. Nemeth). The plan being Grisa would serve as good protection. If they are caught by the Russians they can tell them how they helped Grisa.
At times the film moves pretty fast and has some genuine funny moments concerning mistaking identities. Sometimes it is like a wild sex farce with characters running in and out of rooms hiding from others. One of the best scenes is near the end of the film when a soldier is trying to find out who is the real Corporal Molnar, but I won't reveal anything here.
The only downfall to the film is it is too light. I would have liked it to be more forth coming in its critique. I understand the political environment would have prevented that but look at what Bacso did with "The Witness". You simply cannot mistake that film's message. It is totally anti-Communist. As it stands now "The Corporal & the Others" is an enjoyable, light hearted WW2 comedy and a slight political message. It shouldn't be difficult for non-Hungarian audiences to follow. You don't need a deep knowledge of Hungarian history to enjoy it, but, the more you know the better.
You might find it helpful to know how Jews felt towards Hungarians at the end of WW2, what the relationship was like between Germans and Austrians and Hungarians prior to the war and of course we know how it all ended with the Soviets.
Just a quick word about the actors, all of them, I felt, were perfectly casted. The best in the bunch I thought were Major as Albert, who is very dignified and carries himself almost as a cliche Englishmen. And Sinkovits and Darvas are very good. They each have a lot of energy in their performance. Because it is such a broad farce perhaps at times you won't feel these are real people but that is okay. I think these characters are suppose to be symbols not really individuals. The represent different aspects of Hungarians; the communist, the loyal soldier...ect
If you are willing to see something different I would recommend "The Corporal & the Others" to you. As I said, you'll have to find a Region 2 DVD. It is worth seeking. It has several enjoyable moments. Don't walk in expecting a masterpiece and you should be pleased.
Posts
