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Red Psalm

Original title: Még kér a nép
  • 19721972
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
88,924
34,872
Red Psalm (1972)
DramaMusicalWar
Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike in-which they face harsh reprisals and the reality of revolt, oppression, morality and violence.Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike in-which they face harsh reprisals and the reality of revolt, oppression, morality and violence.Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike in-which they face harsh reprisals and the reality of revolt, oppression, morality and violence.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
88,924
34,872
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Miklós Jancsó
    • Writer
      • Gyula Hernádi
    • Stars
      • Andrea Drahota
      • Gyöngyi Bürös
      • Erzsi Cserhalmi
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Miklós Jancsó
    • Writer
      • Gyula Hernádi
    • Stars
      • Andrea Drahota
      • Gyöngyi Bürös
      • Erzsi Cserhalmi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 11User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 3 nominations

    Photos

    Red Psalm (1972)
    Red Psalm (1972)
    Red Psalm (1972)
    Red Psalm (1972)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Andrea Drahota
    Andrea Drahota
    • Nagy Mária, szocialista
    Gyöngyi Bürös
    • Ráczné, szocialista
    Erzsi Cserhalmi
    • Galambos lány, szocialista
    Mari Csomós
    • Cselédlány
    Ilona Gurnik
    • Paraszt asszony
    Éva Spányik
    • Fehérkendõs halottsirató asszony
    Zsuzsa Ferdinándy
    • Grófnõ
    József Madaras
    József Madaras
    • Hegedüs Bálint, szocialista
    Lajos Balázsovits
    Lajos Balázsovits
    • Fiatal tiszt
    Tibor Orbán
    • Pongrácz András, szocialista
    Jácint Juhász
    • Tóth Ferenc, szocialista
    András Bálint
    • Majláth gróf
    Bertalan Solti
    • Öreg Hegedüs
    Tibor Molnár
    • Lovas Imre, szocialista
    János Koltai
    • Szocialista
    István Bujtor
    • Petkó Szautner András
    Gábor Kiss
    • Szocialista
    Péter Haumann
    • Pap
    • Director
      • Miklós Jancsó
    • Writer
      • Gyula Hernádi
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The movie consists of only 27 takes.
    • Quotes

      Pap: Here is the bread. For this, they sin and wage war. But when night falls, fear takes hold of them, and by dawn they will cease to exist, and they will cower in terror in front of an angry God.

    User reviews11

    Review
    Top review
    No ecstatic jump
    I consider the discussion about art to be a meaningless waste of energy, so I will let others sort out whether this is 'great art' or not. Whether or not this is a cinematic triumph against plot and character though, as championed by many, will invariably depend on your definition of cinematic. It does not meet mine, at least my definition of richly cinematic worth leaving the mind behind.

    Here's the setup: it is apparently the 1890's, the place is a stretch of Hungarian plains rolling in the distance. A village of farmers has gone into a strike, with a battle being fought over their soul and minds. Now and then newcomers emerge from nowhere, young intellectuals who give spirited lectures on Engels and socialist theory, priests with their sermons and rites, soldiers of some distant , oppressive authority.

    The people are by turns confused and spirited, bold and despairing. They lash out against each other, burn a church. They pray and hold court. Now and then they sing and dance about their woes, stabbing who they see as more privileged. Soldiers swell their revolutionary ranks, then break out and shoot them. It all happens in circles in that same featureless plain.

    The allegory is stark, what the Czech had been for years leveling against Nazis: covert attack on the hypocrisy and tyranny of a distant state, by celebrating betrayed hopes and idealism.

    That's all fine, but for one factor.

    We see a lot of upheaval, a lot of pain turned into song. But we are not tethered into human soul for any of it. We never know any of these people except schematically, as actors on a stage. A disembodied camera liturgically roams and roams around these faces, but we have no entry into the soft underbelly of actual lives.

    It is a matter of presentation. In The Red and the White, Jancso solved this by first ushering us into a world at war, with stakes and limits, with blood coursing through people. So when he abstracted, we were moved the right distance away from the aimless bloodspill to view a more cosmic grind.

    Here the abstraction is all done before we get there. The abstract world is already in place and does not transform again; the sparse setting, the visitations, recitations and ceremonies. You don't make the jump to an ecstatic view, and it has to be you.

    So the effect is like being taken to a room where people are calmly sitting with eyes closed and told this solemn air that you see is meditation. How do you know they're not sleeping?
    helpful•12
    13
    • chaos-rampant
    • Oct 7, 2012

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 9, 1972 (Hungary)
    • Country of origin
      • Hungary
    • Languages
      • Hungarian
      • English
      • Latin
    • Also known as
      • Röd hymn
    • Filming locations
      • Hungary
    • Production company
      • MAFILM 1. Játékfilmstúdió
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 27 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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