Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. First, a note about the Bonus section. My YouTube algorithm is humming and I’m getting tons of rare music, historical film footage, philosophical discussions, art, animation, and curiosities. So be sure to take a second and check it out, there’s something for everyone. Also, a shout out to my commenters, please know you are appreciated! Now on to the film! Today it’s a different kind of war story, Hószakadás:
Hószakadás (1974)
and next week’s film, Ítélet:
Ítélet (1970)
Reviews of Hószakadás:
Letterboxd says:Ferenc Kósa directs a 90 minute drama about a Hungarian soldier going awol during the second world war.
This one gets off to an impressive start, with a near wordless stretch of opening of the protagonist just running across the disorientating chaos of conflict.Even the soldier that books him is sick of it, knows the war can’t be won.The drab, brutalness and eventually coldness of the Hungarian landscape, the shots of it show how totally displaced the protagonist is all the while giving plenty of space to depict a man on the lam and illustrating the fatalism inherent to that theme .I liked that the old Catholic woman was trying to hang on to the those who live by the sword, die from it, whereas he has a more worldly view of things.There are no easy endings here and the hunted who were forced to hunt an enemy in a war they hated, will continue to be pursued.
and
“Try to understand, grandmother. The world is not the way you think it is. More weapons are made today than loaves of bread. If you’re quicker to shoot, you might survive. And if you take it all to heart, it’s amen for you.”
an anti-war movie as a small, quiet contemplation, a rejection of the bureaucracy that demands dehumanization of yourself and of others. where the penalty for refusing raze a village to the ground is death, but to do so would be worse, so one accepts it. thinking for yourself is the ultimate rebellion. you can’t be a thinking man and a soldier.
My take:
A well-made and compelling film. It’s a rare glimpse of the small but deadly serious events that surround a war. The partisans, deserters, displaced civilians, and remote military units tasked with policing the region. It has its philosophical moments, there is a brief discussion of Christian love versus justified violence, but it’s mostly a stark presentation of desperate people doing desperate things in a time of war. I’m giving it ⭐, it is definitely worth a watch.
Director: Ferenc Kósa
Writers: Sándor Csoóri, Ferenc Kósa
Plot (Spoilers!):
A young Hungarian soldier dreams of returning home to his parents and grandmother. He is about to be sent to the front on the losing side of WW2. He knows he won’t last long.
He manages to win permission to take leave and reunites with his grandmother. His father has fled to the mountains to avoid the war; his mother has left in pursuit of his father. With his grandmother, he heads into the woods to find his parents. There they are eventually captured by the Hungarian army and taken to a small military outpost where he encounters a bitter and cynical lieutenant who eventually releases him. He reunites with his grandmother and they continue their journey.
They make their way up the mountain where they find the father. But the lieutenant has played a trick, and the army is on their trail. The father is killed, the grandmother abandoned to her fate in the wilderness, and the young soldier escapes and returns to the military base to confront the lieutenant. He finds the base deserted.
***
Bonuses:
Why AI Isn’t Going to Become Conscious | Anil Seth | TED
We see consciousness in AI the same way we see faces in clouds, says neuroscientist Anil Seth. He explores the all-too-human tendency to project inner life onto machines that are brilliant mimics, not sentient beings, and gives a definitive answer to the urgent question: Will AI ever gain consciousness?
Baritone Double Polyphonic Ocarina
The World’s First Self-propelled Military Vehicle
Early Music Consort of London: The Burgundian Court of Philip the Good
Christopher – 1970 US Holy Grail of Heavy Acid Rock, very rare $1400
Here it is one of the `Holy Grails` of USA Heavy Psych Rock, so hard to find this first issue, on the obscure USA Label `Metromedia`, here it is for you in all it`s glory! A copy sold in April 2015 on ebay for 936 British Pounds showing it`s rarity, not sure how many copies were actually pressed I have heard estimates of just 200 which would be amazingly small for a USA Pressing – see my other World Rarities on you tube, why not subscribe for regular updates
WANG Hua-de – Shu (Sichuan) Qin Music. Tea Ceremony Music, Chinese Traditional, Tai Chi, Guqin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOpgS3JDs10&list=RDUOpgS3JDs10&start_radio=1
Jimi Hendrix- ‘Superconcert ’70’ Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany 9/4/70
Jimi Hendrix & Love & Stephen Stills – jam
Somnambulists – Directed by Mieczyslaw Waskowski 1958
Best of Polish Experimental Film and Animation.
Camus vs. Sartre (Rare BBC Documentary)
(ORIGINAL) Camus vs. Sartre. This documentary is about the battle between these two great writer/philosophers after WWII in Paris over Camus’ book The Rebel. What was once a friendship had now turn sour. After the war, Camus began frequenting the Café de Flore on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris with Sartre and others. He also toured the United States to lecture about French thought. Although he leaned left, politically, his strong criticisms of Communist doctrine did not win him any friends in the Communist parties and eventually alienated Sartre. In 1949 his TB returned and Camus lived in seclusion for two years. In 1951 he published The Rebel, a philosophical analysis of rebellion and revolution which expressed his rejection of communism. Upsetting many of his colleagues and contemporaries in France, the book brought about the final split with Sartre. (Music by Satie)
A Philosophical Look at System Dynamics
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Spring of 1977. In this lecture, Donella Meadows takes on a more philosophical concept. How can we bring ourselves to be aware of the assumptions we make as systems thinkers? She asserts that models are a set of assumptions. Donella Meadows defines some of these system dynamics assumptions (such as causal relationships and feedback loops) in this video.
The Full Russell-Copleston Debate on God (1948)
Audio recording of Bertrand Russell and Frederick Copleston in a famous 1948 radio debate discussing the argument from contingency for the existence of God, religious experience, and the status of morality.
The Message Of The Tibetans – A film by Arnaud Desjardins (Full Film in English)
Arnaud Desjardins met His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the first time in 1963, and gained his support to shoot these films. All the most revered masters agreed to participate in the making of these films: The Dalai Lama in person, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, H.H. the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa, Dugpa Tupse Rinpoche, the yogis Lopon Sonam Zangpo and Abo Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche… and many other eminent masters.
1970 16mm Film – Omega experimental – Public Domain Footage
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