The Fifth Seal
The Fifth Seal (Hungarian: Az ötödik pecsét) is a 1976 film by Hungarian director Zoltán Fábri based on a novel of the same name by Hungarian author Ferenc Sánta. It won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival[1] and it was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was also selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[2]
| The Fifth Seal | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Zoltán Fábri |
| Written by | Zoltán Fábri Ferenc Sánta |
| Starring | Lajos Őze László Márkus Zoltán Latinovits |
| Music by | György Vukán |
| Cinematography | György Illés |
| Edited by | Ferencné Szécsényi |
Release date |
|
Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | Hungary |
| Language | Hungarian |
Plot
During the lead of the Arrow Cross Party in World War 2 four friends and a wounded photographer who has just come back from the battlefront are chatting around the table of a bar. One of them, a watchmaker named Miklós Gyuricza poses a moral question to the joiner called János Kovács about Tomóceusz Katatiki and Gyugyu.
Tomóceusz Katatiki was the leader of an imaginary island and Gyugyu was his slave. The powerful and careless Katatiki treated the poor Gyugyu with extreme brutality, but never felt any remorse as he lived by the barbarian morality of his age. Gyugyu lived in eternal misery and suffering but found sedation in the fact that whatever cruelty happens to him it is never caused by him and he is still a clean, guiltless person. What would he choose, if he had to die and reincarnate as one of them?
The photographer says that he would choose Gyugyu, but the others don't believe him, so as revenge, he later reports to the Arrow Cross Party that the four of them called them murderers. As they go home we get to know some of the deepest secrets of their lives. It turns out that Gyuricza is hiding Jewish children at his flat. The next evening they are taken to an office of the party where the unnamed arrow-cross man played by Zoltán Latinovits forces them to slap a dying partisan in the face.
Cast
- Lajos Őze - Miklós Gyuricza (Gyuricza Miklós)
- László Márkus - László Király (Király László)
- Ferenc Bencze - Béla
- Sándor Horváth - János Kovács (Kovács János)
- István Dégi - Károly Keszei (Keszei Károly)
- Zoltán Latinovits - civvies
- Gábor Nagy - the blonde one
- György Bánffy - the high one
- József Vándor - Macák
- Noémi Apor - Mrs Kovács (Kovácsné)
- Ildikó Pécsi - Irén
- Marianna Moór - Lucy (as Moór Mariann)
- Rita Békés - Erzsi
- György Cserhalmi - dying communist
- Gábor Kiss - Guard
- Gabriella Kiss - Gyuricza's daughter
See also
References
- "10th Moscow International Film Festival (1977)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
- Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences