2023-10-20 12:23
Library and Information Centre: November 18, Wednesday, 6:00 pm
American Torso
1975 / Black and white Hungarian feature film
96 min / 2K restored
Language: Hungarian
Subtitle: English
Director, screenwriter: Gábor Bódy
Cinematographer: István Lugossy
Editor: Péter Tímár
Music: Ferenc Liszt, Ferenc Sebő
Cast: Sándor Csutoros, György Cserhalmi, András Fekete, László Felföldi, Keith Craine, Ed Hewitt
The experimental film takes place in North-Caroline. In the last days of the American civil war three characteristic figures of the 1849 Hungarian emigration fight: the geographer artillery officer Fiala János, the rational scientist, Vereczky Ádám, the heroic fatalist and the attendant of Fiala: the emotional Boldogh, who struggles with homesickness. The fate of all the "slowed down" revolutionaries is hopeless. The boasting Vereczky dies a meaningless death on a huge swing which he was able to survey with the theodolite. Boldogh longs for home, maybe to die, while there is only one possibility for Fiala: he can participate in the construction works of the Pacific railway.
The ancient word ‘anzix’ means a postcard, as if we were seeing a contemporary document. But Gábor Bódy's exam film is an experimental work through and through. From time to time, he breaks the illusion of contemporaneity, surprises and shocks the viewer.
