The Red and the White
The filmmaker Miklós Jancsó, described by his compatriot Béla Tarr as “the greatest Hungarian director”, takes the spotlight with the new restoration of six key works from his filmography. “The master of long takes” as Martin Scorsese still calls him, made a handful of extraordinary films between the mid-60s and the 70s, most of which are stages in the filming of the Hungarian historical narrative, from the Habsburg Empire until the end of the Second World War.
A haunting, powerful film about the absurdity and evil of war. Set in Central Russia during the Civil War of 1918, The Red and The White details the murderous entanglements between Russia's Red soldiers and the counter-revolutionary Whites in the hills along the Volga. The epic conflict moves with skillful speed from a deserted monastery to a riverbank hospital to a final, unforgettable hillside massacre. The Red and The White is a moving visual feast where every inch of the Cinemascope frame is used to magnificent effect. With his brilliant use of exceptionally long takes, vast and unchanging landscapes and Tamas Somlo's hypnotic black and white photography, Jancsó gives the film the quality of a surreal nightmare. In the director's uncompromising world, people lose all sense of identity and become hopeless pawns in the ultimate game of chance.
Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó (27 September 1921 – 31 January 2014) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. Jancsó achieved international prominence starting in the mid-1960s with works including The Round-Up (Szegénylegények, 1965), The Red and the White (Csillagosok, katonák, 1967), and Red Psalm (Még kér a nép, 1971).
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The Red and the White (Miklós Jancsó)
The Red and the White (Miklós Jancsó)
