Father (Apa)

SYNOPSIS

A young boy's vivid imagination liberates him from the grim realities of war-torn Hungary in Father, an enchanting fable that evokes the childhood wonder of The 400 Blows and Cinema Paradiso,

Ever since the death of his father, young Tako (Dani Erdélyi) has filled the paternal void with a series of fantasies in which his father (Miklós Gábor) is envisioned as a partisan freedom-fighter, a cultured world traveler and a decorated hero. When he reaches manhood, Tako (now played by András Bálint) struggles to live up to the heroic image he crafted, even as he discovers a world in which valor has little place. But he cannot relinquish the comforting daydreams, and as the fantasies he harbors become more elaborate, the mythic father becomes a heroic protector of the Hungarian Jews during the Nazi occupation.

By depicting Tako in the wake of Wold War II and on the brink of revolution in the 1960s, acclaimed filmmmaker István Szabó (Mephisto, 25 Fireman's Street) mirrors the confusion of childhood with the turmoil of political upheaval. The result is a simple ode to the human spirit, and a memorable tribute to survive in the face of adversity.

REVIEWS

"Brilliant...a fine eloquent film...wonderfully compassionate." -- Bosley Crowther, New York Times

"Magnificent...The orchestrations of this cinematic symphony sing and soar." -- Joseph Morgenstern, Newsweek