Somewhere in the remote region, the war ends. In the midst of ruined cities and houses in the streets, in rural hamlets, everywhere where people still live, are children who have lost their homes and parents. Abandoned, hungry, and in rags, defenseless and humiliated, they wander through the world. Hunger drives them. Little streams of orphans merge into a river which rushes forward and submerges everything in its path. The children do not know any feeling; they know only the world of their enemies. They fight, steal, struggle for a mouthful of food, and violence is merely a means to get it. A gang led by Cahoun finds a refuge in an abandoned castle and encounters an old composer who has voluntarily retired into solitude from a world of hatred, treason, and crime. How can they find a common ground, how can they become mutual friends? The castle becomes their hiding place but possibly it will also be their first home which they may organize and must defend. But even for this, the price will be very high.
To this simple story, the journalist, writer, poet, scriptwriter, movie director, and film theoretician Béla Balázs applied many years of experience. He and the director Géza Radványi created a work which opened a new postwar chapter in Hungarian film. Surprisingly, this film has not lost any of its impact over the years, especially on a profound philosophical level. That is to say, it is not merely a movie about war; it is not important in what location and in what period of time it takes place. It is a story outside of time about the joyless fate of children who pay dearly for the cruel war games of adults.
At the time it was premiered, the movie was enthusiastically received by the critics. The main roles were taken by streetwise boys of a children's group who created their roles improvisationally in close contact with a few professional actors, and in the children's acting their own fresh experience of war's turmoil appears to be reflected. At the same time, their performance fits admirably into the mosaic of a very complex movie language. Balázs's influence revealed itself, above all, in the introductory sequences: an air raid on an amusement park, seen in a montage of dramatic situations evoking the last spasms of war, where, undoubtedly, we discern the influence of classical Soviet cinematography. Shooting, the boy's escape, the locomotive's wheels, the shadows of soldiers with submachine guns, the sound of a whistle—the images are linked together in abrupt sequences in which varying shots and expressive sharp sounds are emphasized. A perfectly planned screenplay avoided all elements of sentimentality, time-worn stereotypes of wronged children, romanticism and cheap simplification. The authors succeeded in bridging the perilous dramatic abyss of the metamorphosis of a children's community. Their telling of the story (the scene of pillaging, the assault on the castle, etc) independently introduced some neorealist elements which, at that time, were being propagated in Italy by De Sica, Rossellini, and other film artists. The rebukes of contemporary critics, who called attention to "formalism for its own sake" have been forgotten. The masterly art of cameraman Barnabás Hegyi gives vitality to the poetic images. His angle shots of the children, his composition of scenes in the castle interior, are a living document of the times, and underline the atmosphere and the characters of the protagonists. The success of the picture was also enhanced by the musical art of composer Dénes Buday who, in tense situations, inserted the theme of the Marseilaise into the movie's structure, as a motive of community unification, as an expression of friendship and the possibility of understanding.
Valahol Europaban is the first significant postwar Hungarian film. It originated in a relaxed atmosphere, replete with joy and euphoria, and it includes these elements in order to demonstrate the strength of humanism, tolerance, and friendship. It represents a general condemnation of war anywhere in the world, in any form.
耄耋之年的东木这些年推出的电影可以说是相当务实了，用不同的故事直面了回首与反思。这个故事相当陈旧，有意的举重若轻从而牺牲了戏剧冲突，正片下来似乎除了那句“我不知道如何治愈衰老”之外并没有令人耳目一新的桥段。与许多年前同样与子代在公路上的《完美的世界》相比，东木避就与平和了太多，直接讲出老人所想倾诉的，反高潮结局温柔自然的安抚了荧屏前的观众。
老爷子九十多岁了依然还拍着，依然是那么细腻的情感。
90多岁的老爷爷还在拍片，导演加主演...走路也很辛苦啊...
牛仔不死，只是逐渐凋零…东木再也无法像曾经那样一人一枪大杀四方了…
内容被抛弃的小清新作品，清新中透露着迟暮岁月的创作解脱，希望是。
我怕这就是他的最后一部作品，他自己似乎就这么想的。
老爷子九十多岁了依然还拍着，依然是那么细腻的情感。
每一句台词不管是old还是macho都像是在说自己
大道无形，返璞归真，都九十一岁了，还有什么是不能看开的呢？
什么叫美国精神？这就叫美国精神！
上次送毒品，这次送孩子！哪里跌倒就在哪里躺平，爱情不是物质的堆积，是心灵与生活细节的偎依
暮年的东木，创作力依然旺盛。虽也看得出有些力不从心，即便弯腰屡背，内心永远是那个牛仔
醇厚、舒缓的特质弥漫在整部电影里，如沐春风。
重复，老套，无聊，中庸，煽情。好莱坞典型代表！似乎男艺术家人均恋父，女艺术家人均恋母！
老爷子很起范儿，尽管动作缓慢，但一看就知道很强大，老少配的公路片就有点平庸，挺美好的，没有什么紧张气氛。Macho，是对硬汉片的反思。
这是一个真善美的儿童片吧？片头的pure American country music 倒是不错啊。
一个91岁的老人坚持着自己热爱的事业，值得敬佩
90岁的主演，伊斯特伍德破纪录了吗？虽然电影拖沓，银发驯马师、押镖客算是开拓老年生活新方式。
东木老爷子的这部，节奏和剧情发展上都有些随意有些散，想那拍那。多少有点让我想起他自己早些年那部凯文科斯特纳的《完美的世界》。不过，都这岁数了还能要求他什么呢，开心就好。拍一部少一部了。
当放下对社会的观点和认知表达，老年人的浪漫和情怀成了我们眼中老套的故事。
Copyright © 2015-2023 All Rights Reserved
