Kincsem was a Hungarian film directed by Gábor Herendi released in 2017. The film took place around the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Kincsem, a Hungarian name for “My Treasure” was a thoroughbred racehorse who was undefeated and won 54 races. The film featured Kincsem’s history with fabricated details. Kincsem was a national icon to the Hungarians. This film paints a storyline of the fiery love between two rivals intertwines into the political framework of the country.
The film started off with the scene of a horse trainer, Sando Blaskovich shot by a military comrade, Count Otto von Oettingen, for treason. Sando’s son, Erno, was presented when this incident took place and lost everything including his family castle to this father’s killer. Erno was forced out of his home to live at the poor laborer’s cottage. As time past, Erno could never forgive Oettingen for taking away his father’s life, land and honor. Erno character in the film was portrayed as this Hungarian man who lost everything to Count Oettingen, an Austrian military comrade. Forwarding to twenty years, Erno has become this happy easy going man who was always short end of money. He was a man who gambles and enjoys women. Just like any other romance story. Erno’s life changed when he meets this beautiful girl named, Klara, Count Oettingen’s strong spirited daughter. Along with the Kincsem, a horse refused to be tamed. Throughout the film, see that Erno master of making Kincsem become a successful world champion and falling in love with Klara. Though Erno had lost everything after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, he got the chance to gain everything back, love and fame.
The film was filled with time period details and visuals, and some modern jokes — like the scenes of them taking a selfie with brownie camera box and the comment about valet parking for horses, “I don’t want to see a single scratch on her.” There were several occasions where they were fancy parties of colorful outfits and costumes. The Egyptian music and horses were key elements that meant a lot to Hungry. Kincsem had a Baz Luhrmann-style making these film a postmodern collection.
Eternal Winter is a film directed by Attila Szász. It is based on true stories and events that took placed in Hungary around the year 1944. This film was taken from a female’s point of view during this time period of history. During this time period, the Soviet soldiers had invaded Hungary and went to villages and haul every young woman along with German origins from their homes and relocated them to a Soviet labor camp where they were forced to work in the coal under brutal and callous environment. Irén, one of the many Hungarian women, was one of many women who was taken away from their homes and family and placed in these labor camps. In these labor camps, they were forced to do manual labor for their survival. The system in these labor camps was must mine coal for food, and without food, one is unable to mine coal. These were reoccurring patterns for all “prisoners.” Being imprisoned in these camps, Irene meets a man named Rajmund, who teaches and shows her how to survive this horrible situation. The determine minded, Irén to return home to her daughter and family, life and history had a different plan — Irén and Rajmund fell in love.
Eternal Winter told the story of the continuous struggle to survive. The film reflected this story very well by describing the life in those labor camps. The colors from the scenes are muted and crisp giving that persistent coldness that oozes from watching the film. Throughout the film, there was no music played except for sounds that were like a wind that created the powerful present winter they were facing. Since there was no music throughout the film, it made the film every noise, conversations, tears scream louder than the normal. Eternal Winter is a touching story that shows the continuous struggle to survive, abandon faith, and the hope that exists.