1945

Hungary, 2017, 91 minutes, Black and white.
Peter Rudolf, Bence Tasnadi, Tamas Szabo Kimmel, Dora Sztarenki, Agi Szirtes, Jozsef Szarvas.
Directed by Ferenc Torok.

1945 is too grandiose a title for this film. It actually covers only one day in the life of a Hungarian village, August 12, 1945, the surrender of the Nazis now three months old, the war still waging in Asia, the dropping of the atomic bombs.

At the beginning of the film, two Jewish men arrive by train at the village, bringing some boxes which are identified as dry goods and perfumes but actually contain various artefacts which are to be buried in the cemetery in memory of the Jews who were rounded up, taken to concentration camps and killed.

This is very disturbing for many of the people in the town because they had denounced the Jews, gained documents which gave them the rights to the houses and the shops and are occupying them and are fearful of having to return them.

There is a wedding in the town that day. It is between the son of the Town Clerk and a young woman who was previously fiance of one of the locals who went to fight in the war. The Town Clerk was responsible for a lot of the deals and is apprehensive with the return of the Jewish men. He has given the drugstore to his son who is to be married.

As the day progresses, the young fiance has a relationship with his former friend, now has a new girlfriend and wants to bypass the wedding. But the young son, appreciating what is happening, and critical of his father’s behaviour, decides to leave, to go to Budapest or to the United States.

A central character is the man who was persuaded to participate in the fraud, who is now a drinker, goes to confession to a rather unsympathetic priest who seems to be endorsing the stances the Town Clerk, the film indicating Catholic Church support of the anti-Semitism.

From the Jewish perspective, the two men go through the burial process, a challenge at the gate of the cemetery by the Town Clerk but say they have come in peace and shake hands with him. To the relief of the townspeople, they leave and go to the train along with the Town Clerk’s son.

As suggested, something of an examination of conscience for the Hungarian people – and a criticism at the time of the film’s release because of the Hungarian hostility to admitting asylum seekers from Syria.

1. The date? World War II? The war over in Europe? Continuing in the east? August 1945? The atomic bombs on Japan? Japan about to surrender?

2. Hungarian film, Hungarian examination of conscience? The place of the Jews, the roundup and concentration camps, deaths? Hungarian is occupying their properties? The challenge after the war, ownership and return? The bigotry surfacing again?

3. The Hungarian settings, the country town, homes, the railway station, the train lines? The shop, the Church? Workplaces? The cemetery? An authentic feel? The village people and their life? The musical score?

4. The black-and-white photography, its effect, clarity, beauty?

5. The action taking place over one day? A significant day? Three months after the German surrender? The close of the concentration camps and the return of the Jews? Behaviour during the war, bigotry against the Jews, taking property, the consequences? The law, casuistry and selfishness?

6. The train arriving, the two men – and then later departing? The goods, the boxes, dry goods and perfumes, the wagon and the carrier, the two men walking behind, going to the cemetery, the burial, the artefacts and the rituals? In memory of the death of the Jews? The Town Clerk and the confrontation at the gate? The Jews coming in peace, the handshake? Their leaving, on the train? The future?

7. The home of the Town Clerk? Waking, his shaving, pondering, the son and his earnestness, waking the mother, her dependence on drugs? Home life? The Town Clerk’s Day? Preparing for the wedding, his attitude towards his son, giving him the drugstore? Yet its ownership by the Jews? The mother devoted to her son? The Clerk going out to the working area, confronting Jansci? The fiance, her former relationship with Jansci? The Clerk fixing everything, arranging the wedding, the story of the inheritance? The day continuing, the realisation of what was happening, the fears? The fiance, memories of her relationship with Jansci, his coming to the house, the sexual encounter? The son, realising the truth, the guilt about the ownership of the drugstore, the Jews arriving, his decision to leave, to Budapest or America? His hopes, going to the waiting room, going on the train?

8. The people, the preparation for the wedding, the tables, food, the clothes?

9. Jansci and his work, the Clerk confronting him, coming to the town, the past relationship with the son, the girl on the sexual encounter, his other girlfriend, his attitude towards the wedding?

10. The townspeople, the occupying of houses, the drugstore? The deeds, the signatures? Forcing the trunk to sign them? His wife and children and dependence on him? Possession of the houses? The Jews return, the fears?

11. The drunk, his family, going to the church, confession? The priest, his siding with the townspeople, decorating the church while hearing the confession, the Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s of penance, his later appearance at the confrontation? The man hanging himself? The reaction of his wife?

12. The stationmaster, his work in the town, returning to the station for the train?

13. The priest, the fat man, the church, the confession, his attitudes, his stances? At the end? The church on guilt?

14. The other characters in the town, having to face the truth?

15. The Jewish men, walking through the town, going to the train and into their future? Hungary after 1945, the presence of the Soviet troops, the Soviet Union, the place of the
Jews…?