Film Review

04 December 2008 03:01 BST

Children of Glory

Directed by Krisztina Goda, out now, in cinemas, starring Kata Dobo, Ivan Fenyo, Sandor Csanyi, Karoly Gesztesi, running time 123 mins.

In a nutshell…

The most seminal national revolt of the cold war - with special effects.

What's it all about?

Children of Glory tells the story of the first great tear in the Iron Curtain. On October 23rd 1956, a group of idealistic Hungarian students marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. Their demands were simple: the withdrawal of Soviet occupiers from Hungary and the holding of free and fair elections to restore power to democratically-elected Hungarians. The outcome of their struggle, however, was not so straightforward.

After the State Security Police (AVH) massacred protestors outside the national radio building, widespread civil unrest erupted across the capital. Casualties mounted among Hungarian secret police as well as the ordinary civilian population - many of whom had suddenly, unexpectedly and almost unwittingly become freedom fighters. Following defections among numerous AVH ranks, the USSR signalled a retreat and Communist Party members were driven from office. The battle had been won, it seemed - before over 2,000 Hungarians were massacred as Soviet tanks rumbled into Budapest and bombarded the capital with a military onslaught the likes of which had not been seen since the closing stages of World War II. The rebellion was quashed within six days.

Rather than exclusively telling the story of the Hungarian Revolution from the front-lines - a la the Battle of Algiers - Children of Glory also depicts the concurrent Olympic Games in Melbourne, which saw the Hungarian national water polo team thrash the USSR 4-0 in what has been described as the bloodiest water polo match of all time. It was halted in the final minute after fighting broke out among spectators, but the Hungarians went on to win the gold medal.

Who's in it?

Lots of Hungarians whom you will never have heard of before. While producer Andrew Vajna and writer Joe Eszterhas are also of authentic Magyar descent, the latter's script underwent a series of Hollywood rewrites before reaching the screen - a mutilation which is painfully apparent throughout the duration of the film.

As an example...

"He died because of our freedom!"

"No - he died because of a machine gun."

What the others say

"A would-be epic emerging as a clumsy culture clash." - Channel 4

So is it any good?

The film does an altogether decent job of painting a factually-accurate depiction of the rebellion - the emphasis on historical soundbytes such as "Ruszkik Haza" (Russians Go Home!) striking a particularly poignant tone - but it predictably falls foul of every hackneyed Hollywood sentiment ever splurged onto the big screen.

To moviegoers who have even the slightest appreciation of film as an art form, Children of Glory will embody the very worst elements of American cinema. The mind-numbingly GI Joe-esque war scenes; the somnabulatory sporting battles; the obligatory Hungarian sex scene with gratuitous nipple shot that serves solely to distract male viewers from how weak the character development is - it's all there, reeking of Hollywood in a sickeningly cliched manner that almost completely undermines the authenticity of the subject matter.

Almost, but not quiet. Somehow, unbelievably, behind the mountains of cheese - peering over the vast valleys of bulls**t - an unmistakable magnetism lingers. This is a story that deserves to be told, no matter how cumbersomely. And if you can just wade through the trite - especially the fictional love affair between polo player Karcsi Szabo and lead rebel Viki Falk which, quite frankly, had about as much to do with the Hungarian Revolution as I did - then believe it or not this is actually an immensely rewarding film to watch. It's just a shame Hollywood had to get involved.

God forbid the Hungarians should have been allowed to tell their own story without the USA stamping its crude brand all over their history. God forbid the very themes of the movie - nationalism, patriotism and freedom - might actually have been allowed to manifest themselves in something other than the crudest, most gaudy of forms.

But then again - as the Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest on November 4th, 1956 and the Allies sought to rally the faltering resistance - Radio Free Europe did indeed tell the freedom fighters "the Americans are coming".

Maybe they just had something a little different in mind.

6/10

Martin Leo Rivers

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