The Witness
El testigo (A tanu)
1979 · Hungary · 106 min
- Director
- Péter Bacsó
- Screenplay
- Péter Bacsó
- Music
- György Vukán
- Cinematography
- János Zsombolyai
- Editing
- Sándor Boronkay
Cast
What it is about
Set in Hungary under the Rákosi era, József Pelikán, a dike-reeve, is put on trial for illegally slaughtering a pig at a time when food had to be reported and controlled. After a spell in prison and a maze of absurd bureaucratic detours, he is unexpectedly promoted to posts normally reserved for senior party members, without understanding why his luck has changed or getting a straight answer from his mysterious patron, Comrade Virág. The film turns this chain of inexplicable promotions into a satire of bureaucracy and of the absurdity of an authoritarian system.
How it was made
Péter Bacsó wrote and directed the film in a tense political climate, when talking about the early 1950s and the 1956 Revolution was still taboo. Paradoxically, the communist authorities financed the production and allowed it to be made, although it was later banned from release for more than a decade. The film mixes absurd humour with an open critique of the system, led by Ferenc Kállai and Lajos Őze.
Reception and legacy
Shelved for years, it grew into a cult favourite in Hungary, where it is regarded as one of the best satires of communism and a classic of national cinema. It was first shown in 1979 and screened at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. A sequel, Megint tanú, followed in 1994, and in 2019 a restoration was selected for the Cannes Classics section.
Stills
Trailer
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Trivia
Cannes screening
The film was shown in 1981 in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, despite having been unreleased in Hungary for years.
Late sequel
A sequel titled Megint tanú, roughly meaning Witness Again, was produced in 1994.
More films by Péter Bacsó
The Man Who Went Up in SmokeOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.