Reviews

This movie did what the other Hungarians couldn't: Really enjoyable and makes the Hungarian '50-s era understandable even for foreigners who have never lived under communist regime. No need to say more.

Well, OK. Just because of the commenting rules.

This movie is full of unforgettable characters. Comrade Virág and the old logopedist lady are my favorites. This aspect is one of the many strong points of the Tanú. And so on, the play of the actors, the sentences and termini technici which became part of the national culture, the great atmosphere, the unique sense of humor made this movie a masterpiece. After more then 20 times of watching, it still can't become boring.

So many people underestimates this film, mostly because of its predictable storyline. However it won't take place in my hall of fame as an eternal masterpiece, it's a quite good movie. Because you cant walk beside it, you have to make your own thoughts about it.

Some suggested that the waste dump is a metaphor of the Carpathian basin or the Eastern European region. Have you ever seen this kind of waste dump, with romani people living in it? If you were "lucky" enough, you should know it's not a metaphor of a region, it's just pure reality about this dumps. This aspect of the movie is stunningly realistic.

The main massage of the movie is a huge tragedy. A tragedy which has a really cold touch as it reaches your hearth. No, not Radu's own personal tragedy. Not the horrible circumstances (both physically and mentally) in which this poor romani people live. No there is a more terrifying tragedy: the tragedy of "no hope". the tragedy of "no way out". If you found your way out of the garbage, you will lose your identity. To find your way back, you must left behind your "civilised self" You can't avoid to choose between this two, there's no equilibrium. You cannot be the part of the civilisation and the part of "Dallas" at the same time. And the worst: because of this paradox, the only one who has the abilities to show the way out of the waste, cannot be the savior of his people, nor a single child. The filmmakers couldn't manage to make this aspect come through really clear, maybe the tragical love story took too much air from it. The other significant problem: however the play of the actors is really good, the there are no emblematic characters which can make this film memorable (someone like Grga Pitic or Dadan in the famous Kusturica movie). That's why I say something is missing.