The beginning shows Hungary devastated by the war and the postwar reconstruction with its communist government. Our hero (played first by Dániel Erdély and later, as a young man, by András Bálint) is clearly determined to find out what he can about his father who died young. All he knows is that he was a doctor and perhaps he was an honored victim of fascism. He never really finds out but his relationship with his mother, his friends and his Jewish girlfriend will make him totally independent of this need to find all about Apa or Father.
Cinematography
Szabó's dreamy flashbacks blur time like unreliable memory itself.
Direction
Debut feature already shows his obsession with personal vs. political myth.
Acting
Bálint's face holds entire conversations his character cannot speak.
Director
István Szabó
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Szabó's own father died when he was seven; this is essentially autobiographical myth-making. The 'diary' structure was banned-adjacent commentary on Hungarian historiography.
Shot during the 'soft' Kádár era, it smuggles Jewish identity and anti-heroic history past censors who missed the subversion in its dreamy ambiguity.
HU
