THE MAGIC HUNTER
Hungary, 1994, 106 minutes, Colour.
Gary Kemp, Sadie Frost.
Directed by Ildiko Enyedi.
The Magic Hunter is a production, a collaboration from many countries of Europe. However, the director of the project is Hungarian. The film was shot in English with a leading cast of English performers, Gary Kemp and Sadie Frost. They are not the most striking performers to come from England but cope steadily with this European, Continental sensibility film.
It is a mixture of magic and realism, a hunter with seven deadly bullets and a task. There is also a deal with the Devil – and overtones of monks, theologians, Christian art traditions.
The film is tantalising in its plot, exotic in its vision, arresting and challenging in its storytelling and exploration of values and traditions.
1.A European film? Collaboration of Hungary, Britain and other European countries and funds. The background of Central European myths and legends? The blending of the past and present? The musical background? Operatic background? The combination of these elements in cinematic style?
2.The Hungarian background? Modern Hungary? The contrast between its past, its art, music and the present? The special effects to create this?
3.The musical score, the songs? The opera? The operatic action of the film?
4.The circular structure? The mother and her stories, their being visualised? The past and its coming t5o life? The Madonna and her saving power?
5.The theme of the seven bullets? The deadly bullets? The hunter and his failure? Mephistopheles? The role of the Devil? His fare? Saving?
6.The past and the hunter, the people, the authorities, the monks, theologians? The Madonna and the art? Interspersing these segments throughout the film?
7.Max and the siege, the failure? Confidence? The bullets and the train? The fair and the prizes? Victim? His wife and his love? The child? The job? The chess player? Surveillance? The wife and the contacts, the gifts? The discussions? The chief and his assistant? Telling the truth? The wife and the player? The danger?
8.The portrait of the wife, the love and the love affair? Honesty, the child? The child and the father? The innocent?
9.The player, his background, the affair? The truth? Danger?
10.Max and his decisions? The situation, the build-up and the bullet?
11.The police phoning the wife, the call? The presence of the Devil?
12.The final bullet, the Madonna, the wife, flight, being saved?
13.Miracles and hope in a Devil's world?
