Children of Glory (2009)

Reel DVD

R4 DVD

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Hungarian language with English subtitles

Hungary, 1956. The country is firmly under the control of Russia who is using countries like Poland, Hungary and East Germany as a buffer zone against NATO. They have no intention of giving up control of these countires. Hungary is run by a puppet government and the secret police, the hated AVO. There is a lot of civil unrest and the country is just waiting for a spark to ignite a revolt.

In Russia the Hungarian water polo team is having a “friendly” game against the Russians. In the pool it is mayhem. The Russian umpire has been told to make sure the Russians win and the Hungarians have no chance of winning the game. The game gets nasty and is called off when Karcsi, one of the team’s best players, throws the ball at the crooked umpire. Their only hope of a win is later in the year at the Melbourne Olympics. With an impartial umpire and the whole world watching they can prove they are the better team. This is far from their minds at the moment. They live a rather privileged life and would rather spend their time off chasing women.

On their return to Budapest Karcsi is pulled in by the Minister who controls the AVO. He is threatened that he will lose privileges if he offends the Russians again.

Through a friend at University Karcsi meets Viki, a politically inclined student who at first finds him a bit of a showoff and derides him for his lack of political commitment. She is herself naive about politics, believing the way to get the Russians to leave Hungary is to issue manifestos, form committees, and rally students to the cause. To this end she has helped organise a huge demonstration in the main public square in Budapest. At first the demonstration seems to be successful but then the AVO start indiscriminately shooting the protesters. Karcsi and Viki are caught up in the terror and barely escape. Karcsi’s and Viki’s University friend is killed. The Russians send tanks into the streets to “restore order”. Karcsi and Viki go to Viki’s room for the night and begin to fall in love. After another unsuccessful demonstration at the radio station, put down by the AVO, they take refuge in Karcsi’s mother’s house. Here we also see the dilemma posed for the Hungarian people. Karcsi’s grandfather is all for evicting the Russians by force of revolution but at his age he won’t be able to help. Karcsi’s mother relies on him to feed the family and cannot see any good coming out of a revolt. His younger teenage brother Joszi can see only glory and excitement fighting the Russians.

Karcsi drops out of the team, fully committed now to the revolution. He is aware that the AVO know everything about him, what he says and does in the team, who he associates with. There is obviously an AVO informer in the team and it turns out to be his best friend.

The revolution is too easily won. Some of the Russian troops have been stationed in Hungary for so long they have come to like the locals. The government announces that the Russians have agreed to leave Hungary, that the AVO will be disbanded and a new government will be elected. The students are jubilant – they think they have won. Karcsi rejoins the team to go to the Olympics. On their way to the airport that night they see fresh tanks and troops rolling back into Budapest. The Russian have gone back on their word. Karcsi can do nothing except fight for his country in the pool at the Olympics.

The Russians take their revenge on Budapest with a brutality not seen since World War 2. The students still naively believe the Americans will come to their rescue but the Americans are more concerned about the sudden breakout of war over the Suez Canal between Israel and Egypt. Disillusioned, many students leave the movement. The others, including Viki, are being hunted down by the AVO.

The team itself is disintegrating. Some members have been offered asylum and jobs in the United States. First, though, there is the Olympics. Both Hungary and Russia make it to the semi-final. With an independent umpire the Hungarians’ skill soon has them leading the Russians and the game again gets bloody and savage. The team wins, but meanwhile Hungary is lost.

There is really no happy ending. Hungary’s fight for its freedom was ruthlessly squashed and it wasn’t until many years later with the weakening of the Warsaw Pact and revolution in Poland that Hungary had a chance of regaining its independence. The 1956 revolution is shown for what it was – an ill prepared attempt at revolution by naive people who had no idea what they were doing and believed everything they were told. The story as told here, though, is no less powerful for that. The human touch given to the film by Karcsi and Viki only makes the failure of the revolution more poignant.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No.1 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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