Elegy with an odd, volatile atmosphere in lyricism almost surreal

Life in Hungary before socialism. I think...

Zoltán Latinovits in Isten hozta örnagy úr (1969)

Margit Dajka and Zoltán Latinovits in Sinbad (1971)

Zoltán Latinovits

Éva Ruttkai

Éva Leelössy

Zoltán Huszárik

Gyula Krúdy

János Tóth

An old man is recollecting all the women he met in his youth. An old woman wants them to commit suicide together but changes her mind. The little town has a doctor whose wife can not forget the old man, and the waiter who serves h...

Szindbád

Correct me if I&apos;m wrong, but the obvious way to unscramble Szindbad is to think from a socialist perspective. When pre- socialist cultures are depicted in socialist cinema they are meant to look inferior to the society of present day. Szindbad is situated in the 20&apos;s Hungary, and shows us the pointless lifestyle of the upper class. Szindbad is a handsome and well- mannered dandy whose position in the society enables him to live his life without working.

As far as socialism is concerned Szindbad is a most extreme example of a bourgeois leach living on the blood of the people. Throughout the film Szindbad struggles to find meaning for his miserable life. He moves from one woman to another as if he was searching for something. Yet he understands the emptiness of his life which can be seen in his cynical attitude towards the women he makes love to. Apparently Szindbad has never loved.

Szindbad is offered to the viewer as an example of the meaninglessness of life before the revolution. After, no one has to be unsure about their place in society. In the end Szindbad understands his life as a movement towards the ideal woman, which can, of course, never exist.

As a film, Szindbad is visually pretentious and slowly paced. I&apos;d like to think that some of it is due to the director reflecting the era and characters in his filmmaking. In any case it is slightly overlong. It is not a bad film, but a difficult viewing for us western viewers, mostly because the cinematic language differs from the (Hollywood) one we are used to.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the obvious way to unscramble Szindbad is to think from a socialist perspective. When pre- socialist cultures are depicted in socialist cinema they are meant to look inferior to the society of present day. Szindbad is situated in the 20's Hungary, and shows us the pointless lifestyle of the upper class. Szindbad is a handsome and well- mannered dandy whose position in the society enables him to live his life without working.

As far as socialism is concerned Szindbad is a most extreme example of a bourgeois leach living on the blood of the people. Throughout the film Szindbad struggles to find meaning for his miserable life. He moves from one woman to another as if he was searching for something. Yet he understands the emptiness of his life which can be seen in his cynical attitude towards the women he makes love to. Apparently Szindbad has never loved.

Szindbad is offered to the viewer as an example of the meaninglessness of life before the revolution. After, no one has to be unsure about their place in society. In the end Szindbad understands his life as a movement towards the ideal woman, which can, of course, never exist.

As a film, Szindbad is visually pretentious and slowly paced. I'd like to think that some of it is due to the director reflecting the era and characters in his filmmaking. In any case it is slightly overlong. It is not a bad film, but a difficult viewing for us western viewers, mostly because the cinematic language differs from the (Hollywood) one we are used to.

An old man is recollecting all the women he met in his youth. An old woman wants them to commit suicide together but changes her mind. The little town has a doctor whose wife can not forget the old man, and the waiter who serves him his dinner doesn't know that Sinbad will soon court her.

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Szindbád

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