The Round-Up [Hungary 1965]

Szegénylegények
Director: M. Jancsó
Cinematographer: T. Somló

A painful minimalist drama set on the plains of 19th century Hungary, telling a simple story of betrayal in times of desperation. This film, depicting as it does the manipulation of a group of failed revolutionaries into betraying each other for their own sake, has been read as alluding to Hungary post-1956, presumably with reference to the purges and executions that followed the suppression of the uprising. However it is difficult to say to what extent the film is intended as allegory.

This film is most interesting for its aesthetic value. It is highly minimalistic, both visually and aurally, set as it is in barren, sun-bleached landscapes with the occasional figure or building breaking fields of white. Shots are long and are composed in a highly abstract way, evoking a sense of hopelessness, isolation and bleakness. Unfortunately it verges at times on the overly repetitive, but this is also to do with the nature of the plot.

The plot would be more accurately called a slow unfolding of a basic category: betrayal under necessity. The great romanticised heroes of the failed 1848 revolution are manipulated into betraying their former comrades by their jailers in order to save their own lives. This of course ends up being fruitless, but it does reveal to us what these men have been reduced to by force of circumstance, and how quickly their noble dream has died as a result of captivity.

Further pushing the narrative into the background is the fact that we are unable to become attached to the fate of any particular character, because we begin to realise the inevitable fate of each. There is in fact a sense of detachment about the whole film, which arises from the combination of detached cinematography, detached narrative, and depiction of the less heroic aspects of humanity in general. In this respect the film functions as a kind of microscope study in falsfiying the myth of the revolutionary hero who never betrays his ideals.

So, if it is an allegory, it seems to be a smack in the face to anyone who sought a Manichaean interpretation of the purges or even the events of 1956. And allegory or not, it certainly seems aimed at such interpretations of the world in general. Nevertheless, we are made to feel sympathy for the characters as a collective by the realisation that they are only human, and under the force of circumstance perhaps this is the most that can be expected of them.

It has been said that this is a very important film, but it is difficult for me to see exactly why. Clearly if such a minimalist film had not been attempted by Jancsó, then someone else would have had to make it. However, while it is highly effective as a specialised study, I am not sure its importance extends beyond this. The repetitive nature of the cinematography and narrative give the film a focussed but in the end a somewhat narrow feeling.