This astonishing film combines satire, comedy and tragedy and is the work of Zoltan Fabri, one of the first post-war directors to make a mark outside his native Hungary.
It concerns a shy, good natured Professor with a devoted wife and three adorable children who teaches at a local school. He becomes a celebrity after writing a treatise on Hannibal and the Punic Wars in which he maintains that Hannibal was not poisoned as is commonly accepted but died as a result of a revolution in his homeland. Alas the Professor soon goes from Hero to Zero as extreme right-wing politicians seize on this as an incitement to dissent and rebellion. He is even accused of being a Communist agitator and because of his refusal to recant he is sacked. Through the machinations of a fascist demagogue and the fickleness of the mob he is restored to Hero status but sadly too late to save him. Fabri's mise-en-scene has touches of genius that reveals a mastery of the visual with beautifully drawn characters. Erno Szabo is unforgettable as the unwitting political pawn and there is great support from Zoltan Greguss as a larger-than-life fascist big wig and Noemi Apor as a coquette who finds it impossible to be monogamous. Set in Budapest in the 1930's during the rule of the fascist Admiral Horthy, it is supremely ironic that within days of the films release in 1956 the Hungarian uprising began which made it even more relevant.
Fabri has reminded us, in the same way that Duvivier in 'Panique' and Lang in 'Fury' have done, of the evils of rabble-rousing and mob psychology and that the decent individual cannot withstand the force of the unthinking mass.
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An important film on Fascism and mob psychology, with a visually fascinating and well-edited final 20 minutes.
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marcbanyai21 March 2002This is the story of a shool teacher who becomes a mementary hero after having rescued a stuffed-bird from a school incident! In esence, he is the prototype of the small and insignificant man and this fact is to be generalized even by his name(Nyul - meaning "rabbit"- Bela).When he sees his name wriiten on the walls as all insignificants spiritual leader, who must go, we know there`s no way out for him, but the inevitable death!Heartbreaking and sad, but so real, in the same time!Don`t miss it!