KONTROL
Hungary, 2003, 105 minutes, Colour.
Sandor Csanyi, Csaba Pindroch, Zsolt Nagy.
Directed by Nimrod Antal.
Kontrol is an accomplished piece of film-making. Director Nimrod Antal was born in Los Angeles but went to Hungary in the 1990s. After the success of Kontrol he returned to the United States and made the horror film, Vacancy with Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson.
This film is set completely in the Budapest Underground. It begins with a rather po-faced explanation by an official of the Underground that the director was a friend of his and that he was not intending to cast aspersions on the inspectors on the Underground.
The film is very humorous at times, some excellent comic performances and incidental touches. It also has the touches of the horror film, especially with a cloaked individual who pushes people under the oncoming trains. It is also a personal drama, a microcosm of Hungary as well as of the world with the range of characters who work in the Underground, especially the various teams of inspectors. The film focuses on one group led by Bulcsu whom we find living solely in the Underground but who meets a professor and reveals that he had a past in science but had given it all up, not wanting to compete every day and to live in the Underground. At times, we see Bulcsu’s dreams and wonder, especially whether he is the cloaked figure who pushes the people under the trains. There is also a touch of romance with an eccentric young woman in a bear suit who turns out to be the daughter of a former train driver.
While the film shows the eccentricities of the subway inspectors, it shows the bad manners, aggressive attitudes and downright swindles from so many of the public. The film was awarded a great number of prizes including an ecumenical prize.
1.The blend of drama, horror, comedy, the absurd?
2.The prologue, the serious-faced official, the irony?
3.The Underground, the stations, platforms, tracks, the escalators, the offices? The audience immersed in the world of the Underground? The score?
4.The inspectors and their types, training or not for the job, the individuals? Bulcsu and his leadership? The new young man who was rather dopey? The old hand who taunted the others and yet was fatherly? The aggressive controller with the emphasis on sex and harassment? The narcoleptic and his bad eating habits? His violent outbursts? The other gangs, the rivalries? The bosses at different levels? The drivers?
5.The inspectors at work, their armbands, the new uniforms for the special group? Their manner, their manners? The exaggerated situations, the comic style? The various types and their reactions? The snarling and barking dog? The people refusing to pay for tickets? The gay man and his butch attitudes? The stammering man? The sexy woman? The Asians and their misunderstanding and taking photographs? The man on the platform and his insulting remarks? The sprayer, the various chases along the platforms and escalators? The microcosm of types and attitudes?
6.The group and their special work, the narcoleptic and his breakfast, the fatherly figure and his cigarettes, the young man and his inexperience, being sprayed? Hitting the pillars as he ran?
7.Bulcsu and his life at the station, sleeping there, the passenger and his taunts, his work, his relationships, his not having a hope? Being fascinated by the girl in the bear suit? Later, the meetings, her father being his friend the ex-driver, her inviting him to the dance? The rivalry, the leader of the other group, running the tracks and its danger? His discussions and sandwich with the old ex-driver? The meeting with the professor (not having a ticket) and talking about his past life, his work in the laboratories, the reasons for his changing his life? His dreams, his images, the bear? The tunnel, being pursued by the killer or not? The chase, his winning the final run? The killer and his pushing the sprayer into the train? The television screens? The interrogation, his leaving the job, his future?
8.The girl, the bear, her eccentricity, on the train, with her father, taking Bulcsu to the dance?
9.The sprayer, his daring people, getting on and off the train, the chases, the suddenness of his death?
10.The killer, the woman at the beginning and her shoe, his pushing the man under the train, pushing the sprayer? The statistics of the deaths? Weather it was Bulcsu or not? His alter-ego or not?
11.The film’s attention to detail, of the characters, their idiosyncrasies, the passengers?
12.The horror touches with the killer?
13.A Hungarian human comedy with universal appeal?
