I saw this when it came out and thought it was superb. As I recall: An elderly farmer who has lost all his children to the grave in rural 1930's Hungary decides he wants an heir to leave what he knows about life before he dies. He goes to an orphanage where he has to bribe the Orphan Master to let him adopt a Gentile child (of maybe 8 to 10 years old) because he is Jewish and forbidden to adopt.
He chooses the boy who least wants to be adopted. He takes him home to his farm with his wife and there they treat him with love and appropriate discipline. They introduce him to the young couple who help on the farm and he is expected to do chores. He settles into his new life and adjusts well. Being that it is the 1930's the Nazis are on the rise and soon they are ordered to wear yellow stars. They tell the adopted child that he must no longer associate with them which the child doesn't understand and fights against. The hired couple try to console the child and take him to live with them.
The Nazis come and take the couple to the concentration camps and (presumably) execute them. The child is left behind, the living embodiment of the revenge (which in this case is love) the elderly couple had against the Nazis and their unforgivable cruelty.
I found this a powerfully moving film and heard that it was the story of the child hood of the director. I would love to own a copy of the film.
