The Fifth Seal
- 7 October 1976 (1976-10-07)
The Fifth Seal (Hungarian: Az ötödik pecsét) is a 1976 film by Hungarian director Zoltán Fábri based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Hungarian author Ferenc Sánta. It won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival[1] and it was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was also selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[2]The film is considered as one of the best films of Hungarian and world cinema.
Plot
During the reign of the Arrow Cross Party in World War II, four friends are chatting around the table of a bar owned by Béla (Ferenc Bencze) when a wounded photographer (István Dégi) who has just come back from the battlefront joins them. During their gathering, two Arrow Cross officers come in for a drink. After leaving, the group bitterly refer to them as murderers.
One of the friends, a watchmaker named Miklós Gyuricza (Lajos Öze), poses a moral question to János (Sándor Horváth) about two hypothetical characters; Tomóceusz Katatiki and Gyugyu.
Tomóceusz Katatiki was the leader of an imaginary island, and Gyugyu was his slave. The powerful and careless Katatiki treated the poor Gyugyu with extreme brutality, but never felt any remorse as he lived by the barbarian morality of his age. Gyugyu lived in misery and suffering but found comfort in the fact that whatever cruelty happens to him it is never caused by him and he is still a guiltless person with a clean conscience. What would he choose, if he had to die and reincarnate as one of them?
The photographer says that he would choose Gyugyu, but the others don't believe him. As they go home we get to know some of the deepest secrets of their lives. It turns out that Gyuricza is hiding Jewish children at his flat. Meanwhile, László (László Márkus) drinks excessively, plagued with the question Gyuricza posed, and experiences hallucinations in his drunken stupor. Upset that the four bar attendees didn't believe him about Gyugyu, the photographer reports the four of them to the Arrow Cross Party for calling the Arrow Cross officers 'murderers'.
The next evening, the four friends are at the bar again when Arrow Cross officers arrest them. They are taken to an office of the party where an Arrow Cross official (Zoltán Latinovits) forces them to slap a dying partisan in the face in order to be freed. Gyuricza is the only one that complies. Gyuricza exits the building, severely disturbed by what transpired. As he walks through the city, buildings explode and crumble.
Cast
- Lajos Őze - Miklós Gyuricza (Gyuricza Miklós)
- László Márkus - László Király (Király László)
- Ferenc Bencze - Béla
- Sándor Horváth - János Kovács (Kovács János)
- István Dégi - Károly Keszei (Keszei Károly)
- Zoltán Latinovits - civvies
- Gábor Nagy - the blonde one
- György Bánffy - the high one
- József Vándor - Macák
- Noémi Apor - Mrs Kovács (Kovácsné)
- Ildikó Pécsi - Irén
- Marianna Moór - Lucy (as Moór Mariann)
- Rita Békés - Erzsi
- György Cserhalmi - dying communist
- Gábor Kiss - Guard
- Gabriella Kiss - Gyuricza's daughter
See also
- List of submissions to the 49th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Hungarian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
External links
- The Fifth Seal at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
Grand Prix
- Fate of a Man (1959)
- The Naked Island – Clear Skies (1961)
- 8+1⁄2 (1963)
- War and Peace – Twenty Hours (1965)
- The Journalist – Father (1967)
Golden Prize
- Lucía – Serafino – We'll Live Till Monday (1969)
- Confessions of a Police Captain – Live Today, Die Tomorrow! –
The White Bird Marked with Black (1971) - That Sweet Word: Liberty! – Affection (1973)
- The Promised Land – Dersu Uzala –
We All Loved Each Other So Much (1975) - The Fifth Seal – El puente – Mimino (1977)
- Christ Stopped at Eboli – Siete días de enero – Camera Buff (1979)
- O Homem que Virou Suco – The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone – Teheran 43 (1981)
- Amok – Alsino and the Condor – Vassa (1983)
- Come and See – A Soldier's Story – The Descent of the Nine (1985)
- Intervista (1987)
Golden St. George
- The Icicle Thief (1989)
- Spotted Dog Running at the Edge of the Sea (1991)
- Me Ivan, You Abraham (1993)
- (No award in 1995)
- Marvin's Room (1997)
- Will to Live (1999)
- Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000)
- The Believer (2001)
- Resurrection (2002)
- The End of a Mystery (2003)
- Our Own (2004)
- Dreaming of Space (2005)
- About Sara (2006)
- Travelling with Pets (2007)
- As Simple as That (2008)
- Pete on the Way to Heaven (2009)
- Hermano (2010)
- Las olas (2011)
- Junkhearts (2012)
- Particle (2013)
- My Man (2014)
- Losers (2015)
- Daughter (2016)
- Yuan Shang (2017)
- The Lord Eagle (2018)
- The Secret of A Leader (2019)
- A Siege Diary (2020)
- Dogpoopgirl (2021)
- No Prior Appointment (2022)
- Tres Hermanos (2023)
- Shame (2024)