The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Ítélet AKA Judgement (1970) Run Time 1H 31M Plus Bonuses!

Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Be warned: Today it’s a -brutal- one, not for the sensitive, Ítélet:

Ítélet (1970)

and next week’s film, Cwal:

Cwal (1996)

Letterboxd says:

What Kosa Ferenc offers is closer to a naked scream than a historical epic. It does not have the scope nor the focus of Ten Thousand Days, but contains a pain a despair of the dying of Thaw era Europe. There is no redemption or a new dawn.

Although aesthetically close to Libahunt, Marketa Lazarova and Nunta de Piatra, sitting between the gothic period epics of Europe, Ukrainian folk aesthetics of Ukrainian poetic cinema, Carpathian heroism of Janosik, Varuj!, Baltagul and the recent Dovbush and Hungarian questions of morality and duty within society and history, the film is a close echo of Procès de Jeanne d’Arc by Bresson, a director who massively shaped Hungarian cinema. These influences and echoes bring us closer to Tarr Bela.

As such, the film is a series of tableaux of a man tested by time. Dozsa Gyorgy, a peasant army leader and his doomed uprising. Each is closer to a legend or an oral tale than a filmic piece. The peasant soldiers, men and women, with crosses daubed on their chests, the chained loggers rushing from their captors dragging themselves through the woods, the naked women ploughing a furrow to protect the army from the spread of plague.

Hungarian morality is bleak. Dozsa is a man caught in the bleak dilemmas of oppression and suffering. Even at the head of his army, he is largely powerless. His soldiers are a human wave, a chaos of men.

Should he fight for the church against the Turks or against the nobles who slaughter the weak and poor he is meant to defend? Should he behead the men who stole from peasants to feed themselves and others? Should he betray his values to preserve the Hungarian nation and the men and women who have sworn allegiance to him? Is it better to live in shame or die in dignity?

and

Kósa does an excellent job at bringing the historical period with its complex revolutionary movement alive. The movement has already failed in the beginning and Dózsa can only decide what his legacy will be; Judgement is a look at the life of a man who can only become a symbol and has to distance himself from his own feelings and understand where he stands in the pages of history. Is this something that is inherent to all revolutionary movements? Should people who want to make history regard themselves as nothing more than pawns and signs? Kósa’s conclusion isn’t as cold as that. He constantly shows us human suffering and people giving in to their human needs and urges. This is also the reality that these movements have to deal with if they don’t want to lose their humanity. The painful, fierce finale is a reminder of the human cost of symbols of freedom carved out of human flesh.

Britannica says:

György Dózsa (born 1470—died July 20, 1514) was a nobleman, soldier of fortune, and leader of the Hungarian Dózsa Rebellion of 1514. After having won a reputation for valour in the Turkish wars, Dózsa was appointed to lead a new crusade against the Muslims. Thousands of peasants volunteered to serve him, but once assembled, without food or clothing, they began to voice grievances against landlords. At harvesttime, when the peasants refused to reap the fields, landlords sent armed retainers against them. Under Dózsa’s leadership, the peasants turned the conflict into a war of extermination against the landlords and finally into a full-scale revolution. Thousands of the nobility were killed and hundreds of manor houses were burned. The fortresses of Arad, Lippa, and Világos fell to rebel forces under Dózsa, and Buda itself was threatened. Aided by feudal levies and mercenaries hired from abroad, the government finally destroyed the rebels. Dózsa was taken prisoner and executed.

My take:

This film was tough. It’s unrelentingly grim and many of the scenes are, while not at all gory, hard to watch. You did NOT want to be on the losing side of a peasant uprising. The camera work is really good, with hints of Tarkovsky. It’s a great historical film too, a glimpse into the sixteenth century. Definitely worth checking out at ⭐.

Director: Ferenc Kósa

Writers: Sándor Csoóri, Ferenc Kósa

Plot (Spoilers!):

It’s the sixteenth century in Hungary and times are tough for the peasantry. The landlords are wringing them dry. A revolution erupts.

György Dózsa is it’s leader. He leads with an iron hand, and he leads his army to initial victories. The powers that be are scared.

The war takes a bad turn and the rebels are captured. György Dózsa is slowly executed on a red-hot iron throne with a red-hot iron crown atop his head. His brother is beheaded. His followers are flogged. The revolution has been crushed.

***

Bonuses:

A Professional Longsword Fight:

Anita Berber, Epitome of 1920s Weimar Republic Excess – Two Sequences of Her Dancing on Film:

In this video, there are two different dance sequences performed by extreme Weimar Republic cabaret dancer, actress, and extreme performance artist Anita Berber. Each sequence is from a silent German film – the first from ‘Unheimliche Geschichten’ [‘Eerie Tales’] (1919) and the second from ‘Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler’ (1922).

While the second dance sequence is known, I believe that the first has never been noticed before. And it is this first performance that takes us a little nearer to the extraordinarily extreme Berber of the decadent ‘Die Weisse Maus’ [‘White Mouse’] cabaret in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin.

Anita Berber, more than almost anyone, epitomises for me the excesses and decadence of the German Roaring Twenties, with its fascination with addiction, morbidity, narcissism, ecstasy and horror.

The perfect musician’s companion (Shruti Box):

Erhard Bauschke – Eine Braut in Shanghai (1937):

The Mousemen – Cheese Dream…Crawtown Marsh (2004):

The Mousemen are a highly obscure, independent musical group, best recognized for an EP released in the early 2000s, featuring tracks like “Cheese Dream… Crawtown Marsh” (2004) and Conversations in Mental Therapy (2005). Their music blends experimental, indie, and alternative rock elements.

Anémic Cinéma (1926) | Marcel Duchamp’s classic restored:

Rare – Moray Balam Naahi Aaye | Thumri In Raag Pilu | Vidushi Madhuri Mattoo |:

Introducing the Lirone:

Andy Graham presents the DIJBASS Didgeridoo Bass Guitar:

David Munrow – The Mediaeval Sound (Full Album, 1970):

The Skatalites – Treasure Isle:

Disraeli Gears ~ Cream:

Disraeli Gears is the second studio album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in November 1967 and reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart., and No. 1 on the Swedish and Finnish charts. The album was also No. 1 for two weeks on the Australian album chart and was listed as the No. 1 album of 1968 by Cash Box in the year-end album chart in the United States. The album features the singles “Strange Brew” and “Sunshine of Your Love”, as well as their respective B-sides “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “SWLABR”.

https://youtu.be/pTgiIUbRSZM?si=-K5uoxmrz0iJ99h5

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn – Pink Floyd:

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett (lead vocals, guitar); he wrote all but three tracks, with additional composition by members Roger Waters (bass, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). The album followed the band’s influential performances at London’s UFO Club and their early chart success with the 1967 non-album singles “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play”.

https://youtu.be/HrkKL5xJpUc?si=32OSsm4UvHsRUVyC

ETNOBOTANIKA – KOSMOBOTANIKA (Full Album):

This is not AI.Real music, produced by us, we regularly play live gigs in Poland (and sometimes other European countries). Come by and see that we are indeed human;)

Nigerian Rock Gong Music – Recorded in the 1950s – Northern Nigeria: