HUNGARY: A major motion entitled in Hungarian "Szabadsag, szerelem" (Freedom, Love), and in English "Children of Glory" picture about the 1956 revolution opens in theatres across the country

Record ID: 724656

  • Title: HUNGARY: A major motion entitled in Hungarian "Szabadsag, szerelem" (Freedom, Love), and in English "Children of Glory" picture about the 1956 revolution opens in theatres across the country
  • Date: 23rd October 2006
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (OCTOBER 20, 2006) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) IVAN FENYO, ACTOR, SAYING: "Every person who went through this whole situation in 1956 changed, with the bombing, or by feeling a gun/weapon in their hands or by seeing people dying around them. So, you can't do anything about it -- it just changes you."
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVACP7LYWRHIEBCXXF3H51TNUEDU
  • Story Text: As Hungarians commemorate the 50th anniversary of the failed 1956 uprising against Soviet rule, a major motion picture about 1956 opens in theatres across the country.
    The film entitled in Hungarian "Szabadsag, szerelem" (Freedom, Love), and in English "Children of Glory" is produced by Hungarian-born Hollywood producer Andy Vajna (The Rambo series, Evita, Terminator 3, Music Box, Basic Instinct & Basic Instinct 2). The original script was written by another Hungarian by birth, Joe Eszterhas of Basic Instinct fame.
    The movie commemorates Hungary's heroic Revolution of 1956. The story takes place in Budapest and at the Melbourne Olympics in October and November that year. While the Russian tanks destroyed Hungary, the Russian water polo team was getting beaten by the Hungarians in the Olympic pool in Melbourne, in what has been described as the bloodiest water polo match in history.
    Vajna, who left Hungary with this family in 1956 when he was a young boy, says he wanted to do a truly Hungarian film about '56.
    "I don't think the true essence of my design was to make a lot of money with this film, this was a work of passion for me. And I think if I would have used larger than life actors for the roles of these characters they would become bigger than the film and the story itself. So I wanted these characters to live as individuals not as movie stars. And I wanted to do it as a Hungarian film because it is pretty much a Hungarian story. And I hope to be able to step across the borders as a Hungarian film about a Hungarian event with a Hungarian cast. So it was a conscious decision. I could have made it with stars and with other directors but I felt that it was important that this would be a Hungarian movie," Vajna said.
    While Communist oppression hangs like a dark cloud over the Hungarians' everyday life, the team's star athletes are shining heroes to the nation, treated like modern day rock stars with money jingling in their pockets and a beautiful girl on each arm.
    As the film opens, the team is training for the 1956 Olympic Games. While, students at the University in Budapest are organizing the fight against the Russian occupation and the Hungarian secret police who terrorise the nation. The students light a spark that is quickly embraced by the nation - the police, the army and the peasants unite in the struggle for freedom.
    Politics, however, are of no concern to Karcsi (Ivan Fenyo), the handsome, hot-headed star of the team, and his best friend, Tibi. But after witnessing a student demonstration and seeing the fiery Viki Falk's (Kata Dobo) demanding that the students be allowed to speak, Karcsi becomes intrigued. He follows the beautiful girl and soon finds himself in the middle of a revolution, when a peaceful demonstration turns into bloody combat with students, children, and housewives battling the Russian tanks.
    Drawn by his love for Viki, and by increasing outrage at the Russians' heavy-handed tactics, Karcsi joins the fight for freedom that rages through the streets of Budapest and into the world headlines.
    Eleven days after the start of the revolution the Russians give into the demands of the students and the their soldiers and tanks leave Budapest. It's a joyful moment for all of Hungary. Viki persuades Karcsi that he must return to the water polo team and represent the new Hungary at the Olympics. It is only when the team has left Hungary that the truth is revealed - the Hungarians have been betrayed. The Russians return with tank guns blazing, determined to put down the Hungarian revolution and establish once and for all their iron-fisted rule over all the countries under the sway of the Soviet Empire.
    The film was directed by Krisztina Goda, who trained at the National Film and Television School in the UK and whose first feature, Just Sex- Nothing Else, was one of the most popular romantic comedies in decades. She says the main story is the love story but its background the revolution is also very important.
    "It's not a documentary about history, it's about the story, the historical setting is really a backdrop to this story, but it is an important one because it influences the lives of the characters. And also..it's's a little bit like Romeo and Juliet, the two families is essential to the story but it's not about them, the Montague and Capulet family, it's about their love, so it's the kind of approach we took, the same theory."
    Actress Kata Dobo (also starring in 15 minutes of Fame, American Rhapsody, Basic Instinct 2) says she is very proud to be in the film.
    "The whole movie is about that revolution that we Hungarians are so proud of what happened there, what we achieved even though nothing really happened, nothing changed but inside I think a lot of things. So I'm just proud that I was able to get to know these people, to know their history more because it's my country's history, it's very important,"Dobo said.
    Actor Ivan Fenyo (also starring in Mendes's Jarheads) says that such a historical event like '56 changes everyone who lives through it.
    ""Every person who went through this whole situation in 1956 changed, with the bombing, or by feeling a gun/weapon in their hands or by seeing people dying around them. So, you can't do anything about it -- it just changes you," Fenyo said.
    While Soviet tanks are blowing up his country, Karcsi and his team-mates fight for the gold at the 1956 Olympics. It is a fight over a ball in a swimming pool, but it is a battle that the whole world is watching, especially in Moscow and Budapest. The pride of free men and women everywhere are at stake as Karcsi and his team mates enter the Olympic arena against the Russians to show the world that while the battle in the streets at home may be lost, the spirit of Hungary will never be defeated.
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