Agnus dei (1971)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Agnus dei
Original title Égi bárány
Country of production Hungary
original language Hungarian
Publishing year 1971
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Miklós Jancsó
script Miklós Jancsó
Guyla Hernádi
music Folk songs
camera János Kende
cut Zoltan Farkas
occupation

The Hungarian feature film Agnus dei ( Égi bárány ) by Miklós Jancsó was made in 1970. Without a conventional dramatic plot, it depicts in a symbolic visual language how the conservative restoration in Hungary in 1919 destroyed its opponents. The atrocities of the rival groups are indicated in the mysterious rituals, the mechanisms of oppression and the role of mysticism and Catholicism are discussed. The title denotes the " Lamb of God ".

action

1919 in rural Hungary, when the communist soviet republic established a few months ago is broken up again by conservative troops. An ardent priest is in the custody of communist fighters. He recites sermons with verve, walks theatrically around the landscape and falls to the ground as if he were dead.

Given the overpowering “white”, conservative riders, the reds have to surrender. The priest puts the peasants under his spell. When three red fighters want to flee, riders follow them and shoot them in the back. When a man tries to drown a young peasant woman, a troop of reds appears. You save the woman and execute the man. No sooner have they moved on than the military is present again. The officers organize a celebration, a violin player among them fiddles the population in a good mood. A woman undresses and is shot. Led by the violinist, the people march into a pit into which the officers throw burning logs. Then the musician lies down in the tall grass with a gypsy and lets her handle the violin. He shoots the priest and gets on a slowly steaming train and drives away.

meaning

In his analysis of the film, Prédal (1975) stated that in its setting, a wide steppe with shallow ponds, the three elements water, earth and sky mingled like in a sewer. The course of the story is de-dramatized, the characters are dispassionate about killing. What is taking place is a transition "from communism to fascism by means of a mystical catalyst" in which the priest exploits the peasant population's receptivity to mysticism and obscures their senses. The new oppressors make the annihilation of their opponents a spectacle and celebration. The pictures do not provide any explanations and are purely behavioristic, so that different interpretations can be found for the behavior of the characters. The vagueness of the processes and the motivation of the characters creates confusion. "Starting from historical themes that are more suitable for a certain stylization than current ones, Jancsó rejects the simplification in favor of a realism of confusion and factual complexity." Instead of a classic montage that gives a film a more precise meaning, the long shots allow to unsettle the audience as the masses shown are. The viewer is denied a conventional “consuming” attitude; he is tempted to think actively instead of having to accept the logical but demobilizing sequence of a conventional film. This advises the Hungarian citizen of 1971 to be vigilant so as not to be deceived half a century later in a similar way to the people of 1919.

literature

  • René Prédal: Agnus dei ou la victoire de l'ambiguïté . In: Études cinématographiques No. 104/108, April 1975, pp. 169–178 (French)

Web links