53 years lost because doctors thought Hungarian was gibberish. The war's final prisoner finally speaks.
Captured by the Red Army during World War II, Hungarian soldier András Toma was admitted to a Soviet psychiatric hospital. After disappearing from prisoner-of-war records, he was presumed dead in Hungary. Because his name was incorrectly recorded in medical documents and he spoke only Hungarian—mistaken by staff for incoherent speech—Toma spent decades misunderstood and isolated in the institution. Fifty-three years later, a visiting Slovak doctor recognised his language, triggering an investigation by Hungarian authorities. Toma was repatriated in 2000, believed to be the last prisoner of war from World War II to return home.
Direction
Restrained approach lets Toma's silence speak volumes
Editing
Juxtaposes institutional archives with fragile humanity
Director
Balázs Ravasz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Toma was repatriated at 74, unable to recognize his own village. He died in 2004, four years after freedom.
The film sparked debate in Hungary about abandoned POWs and Soviet record-destroying that erased thousands of fates.
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