Das Licht in den Birkenwäldern

Hoped for a good, Hungarian war film. Well, that's not it. I was excited to see it since I first saw the trailer. I had high expectations I guess. I wasn't expecting to see battles or Hollywood level spectacle. I kind of knew this will be a slow burn and restrained production, but nothing prepared me for the utter boredom, that I have experienced. Though being boring isn't the biggest sin of this film. It's the very very bad acting. I don't know if people who don't speak Hungarian could perceive this aspect. As a native speaker I can tell you listening to the lines delivered here was torture to my brain. Like they filmed only one take of every scene and said, good enough. The only cast member who felt like a real human being and wasn't totally out of place, was the protagonist. He was believable. And that's the only positive I can say. I can't recommend it.

The film presents the psychological aspects of war in a slow and intimate way. Dark, colourless, lethargic - just like these soldier's life behind the front lines.

It pays a clear homage to Malick's Thin Red Line and Klimov's Come and See but manages to remain fresh and original.

Finally we have a great hungarian war movie which is brave enough to confront Hungary's controversial participation in World War 2.

A near two-hour long, historically inaccurate disappointment centered around some weird 40-something guy that does not really do much; Or talk much throughout the movie.

This movie lacks:

1.) A good degree of historical accuracy.

2.) An understandable depiction of what's going on.

3.) Any fine characters and interesting performances.

4.) Any modicum of entertainment.

5.) Dialogs/Action/Characters/and 'Light' in general.

6.) WW2 Hungarian weaponry, accurate uniforms 7.) Young people of Military age; those who would have been enlisted during that time..

The uniforms used are weird and cheap looking. In my opinion, they might even be Chinese reproductions from the Internet.

The weapons you get to see in this movie are: German Kar 98 rifles, a West-German or Austrian MG3, and an MP-40.

Out of these 3 weapons only the MP-40's saw limited use by Hungarian troops on the Eastern front in 1942-1943.

Personally, I think it fails badly even as entertainment.

Still, I suppose some people may enjoy tedious, melodramatic films populated with boring, unlikeable characters..

A few days on the road with Sergeant István Semetka chasing the Partisans through the birch and pine forests in Russia, at the time of the 2nd World War.

I still remember those forests from over 40 years ago and to be honest, I'd rather cycle through the Dutch forests here than walk there in the Russian ones, but that aside.

The film comes across as cold, wet and depressing. You will not hear any laughter and István is not the happiest either. He continues to stoically look ahead and is not communicatively "the first rooster".

Director Dénes Nagy is also very calm in his use of images, you often see scenes by István, staring into the distance or contemplating something and that takes more than 10 to 20 seconds before the next scene appears.

I like this myself, you see beautiful images, but there are probably also viewers who like action and going on, so I don't recommend this film to them.

Also in terms of acts of war, little happens in the film, once you see a skirmish between the soldiers and the Partisans.

Despite that, my rating is more than sufficient because the film fascinated me, there is an atmosphere around it that appealed to me.

A nice 7+.

How on earth can this movie have a rating of more than 6!? This synopsis is totally overselling the movie:

"World War II, occupied Soviet Union. István Semetka is a simple Hungarian farmer who serves as a Caporal in a special unit scouting for partisan groups. On their way to a remote village, his company falls under enemy fire. As the commander is killed, Semetka has to overcome his fears and take command of the unit as he is dragged into a chaos that he cannot control."

There's no "fear", there's no "chaos". Nothing happens!

It's a waste of time...