Ferenc Zenthe entered the ranks of the eternal giants of Hungarian theater as the rebellious Job

Ferenc Zenthe was the 2×2 sometimes 5 Andrása Kerekes, a Quiet home Andrása Berki, A Captain of Tenkes Mátéja Eke, a Special offer Bozsó’s staff sergeant, a Tüskévár He is István’s uncle, and he won widely in each of these film roles, moreover, he had been playing at the Madách Theater for more than thirty years, when he came to the biggest performance of his life at the age of sixty-three.

Such was the case with the German TV show ZDF (West) shown on December 1, 1983 Job’s rebellionin as Ernő Szabo the Teacher Hannibalin, Pager the Skylarkyou are in Latinovits the Sinbadin; right from the start, one could feel that it was playing for film history. It’s a wonderful cinema Job’s rebellionbut above all it is uplifting from Zenthe Jóbja.

The fact that he received the critics’ prize for it is only a small addition compared to the fact that he was included among the giants of Hungarian acting. It cannot be said that the main role was tailored for him, but it was as if it was written for him. The viewer often finds himself thinking: he really sees a Jewish peasant on the screen. Then, of course, the fact that there is an artist on the scene, and he gives the most that can be given, comes back.

As humanistic as it is, it is a difficult film Job’s rebellion. The Petőfi People rightly wrote:

When the end credits appear, you are still so under the influence of what you have seen that you simply cannot look up for long seconds; she continues to sit motionless in the auditorium, struggling with tears. A heart-wrenching, thought-provoking work. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say: it is one of the best works in the domestic film industry in recent years.

Such an atmosphere prevailed in the Horizont (the old Híradó) cinema Schindler’s List at screening. The screen was already dark, the lights were turned on, and no one moved. But it is nominated for an Oscar in the category of foreign films Job’s rebelliondoesn’t have such gruesome details as the seven-time Oscar winner Schindlerin. Imre Gyöngyössy and Kabay Brown – as well as the cinematographer working at the Zenthe standard, Gabor Szabo – his work evokes evil by depicting it delicately and meticulously through good.

The filming took place partly in Tiszatarján in Borsod and partly in Nagykálló in Nyírs. You can hear several times in the film The rooster is speaking motifs of the song. It can’t be a coincidence Taub Eizik the composition of the rabbi of Nagykálló was chosen as the underpainting. (Published by Palya Bea in 2009 For a single thread he performs in an impressive performance on his album.)

Imre Gyöngyössy spoke about the preparations like this: “We found suitable locations along the Tisza. This is the land of the former miracle rabbis. We looked for deserted cemeteries, ruined churches, and came across some families living there. In addition to our feature film, we shot important additional documentary material. We discovered that the land of the miraculous rabbis can be related to Chagall’s ancestral world, but it is such an ancient Hungarian ethnicity that Martin Buber could have written a new Hungarian fairy tale out of it. It’s a pain, there are hardly any survivors of the persecutions.”

Élét és Irodalom even awarded the backstage:

It’s all here. At arm’s length. Here in Central Europe. In Hungary. In the region of the Upper Tisza. The landscape is familiar. The houses, trees, roads and waters are familiar in the landscape. And although I’ve never had the luck, I’m familiar with this son of the earth. Here? Oh no! He’s not here anymore! Your place is empty. They took him too. I know why, how and where. I know the ending. I read the history of the genocide, the long chapter in the book of modern horrors. It was just here. You can only remember it. To recall on the projection screen.

The Hajdú-Bihari Napló found beauty in the horror: “The figure of the old Jewish couple and the love and humanity radiating from them prove that it is possible to live in love for each other even in a dehumanized world. In our everyday usage, the words old man and old woman almost have a pejorative connotation, but when heard from the mouths of the two old people, they express mutual dependence, mutual attachment and love for each other.”

The Magyar Nemzet was also on the same wavelength as the creators: “This film speaks out against crimes that cry out to the sky, and love, love, the continuation of life, for survival, but it does so quietly, one could almost say: atmospherically.” This atmosphere is evoked not only by the fairy-tale weaving balancing on the border between idyll and horror, but also by Gábor Szabó’s eye-catching colorful photography: although the exteriors mostly record the beauties of nature and the inherited village image, perhaps contrasting with the unnaturally evil behavior of some people, the interiors often have a subtle glow reminiscent of icons. “

The Hétfői Hírek didn’t skimp on the recognition either, even if it criticized: “The new film by the creative couple Gyöngyössy and Kabay is far from flawless: there are more drawn-out and tired scenes in it. But the last third is a masterpiece. It’s shocking, incendiary for good, deeply moving.” The Esti Hírlap highlighted: “Ferenc Zenthe, who plays Jób, is sensationally good. Without even for a moment using the age-old templates of the role, he is at the same time an authentically practical peasant, whose every move is connected to the solid world of objects, the everyday life of nature, and at the same time the Jewish man from the fairy tale, who with the most natural voice can talk about the reproduction of animals, the to talk about raising children and the nature of life. Hédi Temessy is a worthy partner. His playing is also free of frills, none of the externalities offered; Aunt Róza became the eternal man, the eternal mother in her creation.”

There was another main character, the ten-year-old Gábor Fehér From Békásmegyer. With amazing naturalness and radiance, the kid gave birth to the child of Job, who lost his seven garments and deliberately adopted a Christian boy. At the time, it was written about the teenager who became not an actor, but a cook and then a waiter: “He is capable of saying more than words. The way he lives and plays on the screen is what you have to see.”

The whole movie had to be seen. The Somogy county newspaper Néplap expressed it with understandable arrogance:

The 1944 tragedy of the Hungarian Jews has never been recalled with such lyricism.

Maybe not since then.

Job’s Rebellion can be rented online at Filmio.