I'm from Hungary like this masterpiece. Zoltán Fábri the famous director made an excellent work about the story how the hard working people of Hungary lived in the '50s. Mari Törőcsik is still one of our favorite and talented actress and her partner here, Imre Soós was maybe our best actor at the time. He died young, so I think we must be proud of his energetic acting what he shows us in this movie. The most known words of this year was: "Land marries land". This tells us everything about the life in the middle '50s in our country. The cinematography is wonderful, also the classic Hungarian folk music which we can listen all the time. Maybe nowdays this kind of movie is too slow, and most of the teenagers smiles when they see this. But it was true, and very sad. Life is much more easier in 2008. But our grandparents lived there, and it was not easy. I've loved them telling about the past much more than everything, life is sometimes too short! I hold them in reverence! So, let's go and see this movie because it's a real unique art of cinema!

Oh boy and I thought my Event Horizon review will get me into trouble ... I watched this movie for the first time in 2006 at the International Film Festival in Berlin. Since this movie is 50 years old, it's clear that the pacing is slow. But that wasn't the main point that bothered me.

Because in general I also like slow paced films. It is just that the story as it was on screen didn't appeal to me. And that might only be me (I'm not here to offend any lover of this movie, especially as this was hailed by the critics in Cannes),because the movie itself is well executed. But I think there could be more here ... So if you like slow paced movies, which play in a village, where people live that might have more to them, than they initially show, than this might appeal to you (more than it did to me) (yes there is an underlying social commentary in there, but again it didn't leave me with an impression)

Consistently ranked as one of Hungary's best films, this put its director Zoltan Fabri on the map. An outward-looking director whose style is influenced by French poetic realism, his films have a truly international appeal.

Despite it's being filmed during the dictatorship of the execrable Matyas Rakosi and set against the backdrop of the co-operatives versus the landowners there is mercifully no propogandist element here.

It is in fact a simple tale, beautifully told, of Mari, whose uncompromising father has arranged a marriage for her with fellow farmer Sandor based upon the age-old principle of "land marries land'. The only problem is that Mari loves and is loved by Biro, who just happens to belong to the co-operative. After a few confrontations, plenty of soul-searching, locking of horns and an axe-throwing(!) all ends happily and true love conquers all.

What is noteworthy about his piece is Fabri's marvellous mis-en-scene, especially his visual sense, pacing and skill with actors.

He was to work regularly with Mari Torocsik who is absolutely wondrous in this. She enjoyed a long career and left us only recently. The same cannot be said alas of Imre Soos who plays Biro, a splendid actor who took his own life at the age of 27. The performances of Bela Barsi and Adam Szirtes as father and rival suitor are strong.

Fabri has given us a film that touches the heart without being sentimental. It was entered at the Cannes Film Festival and just looking at the range and quality of the films in competition that year is awe-inspiring. A stark reminder of THEN and NOW!