Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr's 7-hour black-and-white epic based on the novel by Laszlo Karsznahorkai took two years to film. The complex story follows a group of people living in a dilapidated village in post-Communist Hungary. Tarr examines their standstill lives through a series of episodes told from each person's point-of-view. Winner of the Caligari Film Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize Special Mention at the 1994 Berlin International Film Festival.
A 2.5 hour long movie stretched over 7 hours? In Hungarian? Black and white? About the decline of Communism in Eastern Europe? The epitomy of pretentious arthouse? That is what I had heard Satantango was before watching, and I approached it with dread. Actually it turned out to be very much like that. As well as much, much more. I planned to watch it over 2 days. After watching the first DVD's worth I was interested. After the second I couldn't wait to put the third in, finish, and enjoy it. The seven hours became gripping. The 30-40 minute drunken dancing scene delightful. It was at times horrifying, at others hilarious. Often I found part of myself praying for certain scenes to end, whilst another part was hoping the very same scenes would continue to test my patience and crank up the anticipation of what might happen, but probable wouldn't. This anticipation is what, in my opinion, makes Satantango a great film, worth every 4.5 hours more than the standard 2.5 hours. The humour and suffering arise from the tension the stretched scenes create between viewer and film, as well as the films characters, narrative (it does have a narrative at least) and themes. The narrative is about a decrepid collective farm(ing community) as they wait in dread for and then receive the return of Irimias and Petrina who they all thought were dead. Irimias appears to be conman fresh out of jail rather than the grave, and Pertina his sidekick. They are, like much of the film, simultaneously grotesquely funny (when they tell a police officer that they would really like to get through life without doing a days work; the officer ends up hiring them) and disgusting and manipulative criminals, exploiting the more modest members of the farm. All in all, it starts with a five minute shot of cows walking around in seemingly barren buildings before turing out to be one of the most exciting movies I have ever seen. I would love to see it in the cinema, but am not too sure when that is going to happen. In the meantime however, I do have this DVD, which I highly recommend for anyone searching for a unique and funny film watching experience.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr's 7-hour, black-and-white epic based on the novel by Laszlo Karsznahorkai took two years to film. The complex story follows a group of people living in a dilapidated village in post-Communist Hungary. Tarr examines their standstill lives through a series of episodes told from each person's point-of-view. Winner of the Caligari Film Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize Special Mention at the 1994 Berlin International Film Festival. Actors Mihaly Vig, Putyi Horvath, Laszlo Lugossy, Eva Almassy Albert, Janos Derzsi, Iren Szajki, Alfred Jarai, Miklos Szekely B., Erzsebet Gaal & Erika Bok Director Bela Tarr Certificate 15 years and over Year 1994 Screen Fullscreen 4:3 Languages Hungarian - Dolby Digital (2.0) Stereo Subtitles English Duration 6 hours and 59 minutes (approx) Region Region 2 - Will only play on European Region 2 or multi-region DVD players.
Seven-hour black-and-white epic following life in a small, dilapidated post-Communist Hungarian village where nothing ever happens and nobody wants to be there. Adapted from a novel by László Krasznahorkai, the saga is presented through chapters looking at life from the viewpoint of each of the different villagers, all of whom want to leave as soon as they recieve a much-anticipated cash payment they are expecting. The film won the Caligari Film Prize as well as the Ecumenical Jury Prize Special Mention at the 1994 Berlin International Film Festival.
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