The Wind Is Whistling Under Their Feet
György Szomjas’s first feature—made after a decade of short documentaries—is a bold attempt at a goulash western, set on the puszta, or Great Hungarian Plain, in 1837. Mixing Miklós Jancsó imagery and a Sergio Leone narrative, this ballad-like saga opens with image of a lone horseman on the empty plain, riding past a rude gallows. The film concerns the vengeful return of a legendary betyár (outlaw), briefly a hero to the local herdsmen who oppose the state building a canal across their grazing land. Although Szomjas works from ethnographic records and archival material, it is hardly surprising that this violent, primitivist film would be more popular with Hungarian audiences than critics. Replete with young guns, crooked sheriffs, tavern brawlers and hardbitten plug-uglies, this widescreen film is strikingly shot by Elémer Ragályi (cinematographer for most of Gyula Gazdag’s films)—a feast of loamy, autumnal colors.
Crew
-
Attila Ungvári
Makeup Artist
-
Elemér Ragályi
Director of Photography
-
Péter Zimre
Writer
-
Zsuzsa Vicze
Costume Design
-
Éva Kármentő
Editor
-
Sebő Ferenc
Original Music Composer
-
Lajos Gulyás
Production Design
-
Lajos Gulyás
Production Manager
-
János Krajcsovics
Set Decoration
-
György Szomjas
Director
-
György Szomjas
Writer
-
János Bozsogi
Assistant Director
We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Attempting to reconnect