The Round-Up (Szegenylegenyek). 1966. Directed by Miklos Jancso.

(3/28/01-4/8/01)

The Round-Up is a very impressive-looking film. It is in black-and-white with beautiful camera work. The film looks choreographed, like a spectacle or pageants. The shots are composed with a lot of thought. Frequently, there is something going on in both the foreground and background.

The action takes place around a military compound or prison which is set in the middle of nowhere on a barren plain. It is like it is removed from an environment, of something that would give it a context. I saw this done once before in a Jancso film and I liked it very much. It seems to lend a quality of myth or legend to the events.

The story is about a man who was a resistance fighter and is accused of killing as part of his resistance activities. He is told that he will be released if he can find someone else in the compound or camp who has killed more people than him. The film mostly concerns his attempts to find someone to take his place. In the end he does, but is then himself killed by the other inmates.

The thing that made the biggest impression on me was that the soldiers or guards were not portrayed as sadistic brutes. They were cool and businesslike. They had a job to do.

One notable and recurrent image was of the prisoners filing by with hoods on their heads. Perhaps I noticed this because I have seen a still of this image reproduced several times. At least I think I have seen it more than once.

There is a scene in which a young woman is forced to run nude between two rows of soldiers who whip her. She dies from this whipping. Is this an exploitive moment--throwing something sexy, albeit perversely sexy, into an otherwise stark film? I don't know, really, but the nudity emphasized her vulnerability and the cruelty of the act.

The film becomes almost surreal towards the end. I think there was a scene of a martial band playing while agroup of prisoners is standing around waiting to be executed. (My memory of this picture has already faded.) All in the middle of the deserted plain.

The ending is cruel and downrigt nasty. Some of the prisoners are led to believe that they will be allowed to join the army that has imprisoned them. One is asked about his experience and he says he has been in the cavalry. He is invited to pick some men to join him and then is allowed to show off his riding skills.

They are told that their leader Kossuth has been granted a full pardon by the emperor. They are jubilant and sing a song of nationalism or solidarity. But then they are informed that while Kossuth was pardoned, his followers will be punished. At that, I believe, they are herded off to execution and the film ends. It reminded me of a similar event in The Outlaw Josey Wales.

I think that that ending lost some of its impact for me because the last scenes of the film were so strange that I was wondering what was going on. Putting these guys on horses and whatever seemed fishy and gave me a strong sense that all was not what it appeared to be. So maybe, even if unconsciously, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.