"FATHER A Diary of Faith" "STARRI NG" "MADE AT MAFI LM STUDIOS AND HUNGARIAN FI LM LABORATORI ES" "WRITTEN AND DI RECTED BY" ""I am confronted with the absence of your face..."" "When they had survived everything and life was just beginning anew... after a brief illness, Father's heart stopped." "He was working and said he was tired." "Then he suddenly died." "For years he felt proud, believing that on that day... everybody was mourning his father." "The "Daily Freedom"!" "Read all about President Roosevelt's funeral!" "American President Roosevelt is dead!" "THREE MEMORI ES OF FATHER" "FATHER'S BELONGI NGS" "What are you doing, for God's sake?" "If only your poor father were alive!" "Put everything back in its place." "That watch!" "Give it to me." "What are you doing now?" "If Father could see you..." "If your father were alive." "Or if I were your father..." "If your poor father found out!" "If he had lived to see this!" "If you had a father, he'd teach you a lesson you wouldn't forget!" "Come here, son." "Tell me, why don't you study harder?" "Your poor father is looking down sadly from heaven." "He can't be happy there as long as you are such a bad boy." "On his birthday, after pleading with his mother... he is allowed to wear Father's watch for the afternoon, but not to wind it up." "J UDGMENT" "CHI EF WAR CRI MI NALS EXECUTED" "The fate of those who dug our nation's grave was sealed... before the people of the capital." "Leaders of the former Nazi regime had to answer for their crimes." "The tyranny of these irresponsible adventurers brought death to our nation... with a grotesque festivity." "Their bravery went only so far as sending... tens of thousands of Hungarians to their deaths." "What cruelty.!" "How much blood stained the hands of these heartless murderers... their course strewn with orphans, widows and families torn apart.!" "The nation stands together as one in accusation." " Don't watch, son." " Why are they being hanged?" "They are bad people." "They made the war." "When the rope is pulled, do they feel anything?" "I don't know, son." "Don't worry about it." "Are they still alive, then?" "They killed lots of people." "They would have killed us too." "They captured Father, but he escaped." " How?" " He jumped off the streetcar." "And they didn't notice?" "PetÕfi was reciting his poem about the beauty of the country... his cheeks burning, eyes shining." "The people listened, transfixed." "Even the bartender stopped serving while he spoke." "When he finished, they cheered and applauded:" ""Hurrah!" "Long live Sándor PetÕfi!"" "He sat down, blushing." "Just as he began to pour some wine... a man with a mustache stood up." "He called out loudly:" ""You're a liar, son!" "I know your father:" "His name is Petrovics, a Serbian innkeeper." "Whatever you may say, you're no Hungarian."" "There was a deadly silence in the room." "PetÕfi stood up, laughed and said:" ""You are correct, sir." "My father is indeed Petrovics, the Serbian innkeeper." "And yet, with your permission..." "I am Sándor PetÕfi, the Hungarian poet!"" ""Sándor here, Sándor there, Sándor in his underwear."" "Good morning." "Look at that, boys." "The school has received an aid package." "Cocoa, canned milk and food." "Who would like some?" " Me!" " Me too!" "Sorry, but there's not enough." "Only the orphans remain standing." "Balogh, Tanhoffer." "Csermák, why did you sit down?" "My father isn't dead, only missing." "He is a POW somewhere." "Yes, of course." "Sorry." "Now those whose fathers are dead, stand up." "TakÕ, you stand up too." "Your father is dead." "Why didn't you stand up?" "You were trying to lie to the teacher!" " You'll be sorry!" " Watch out!" "Catch him!" "Tie his hands!" "Idiots, all of you!" "The teacher was my father's best friend!" "He's lying again." "Always telling lies!" "Stop lying or you'll get it!" "They went to school together and fought in the war together!" "They rode together every night on a motorcycle." "They were both partisans." "Watch out!" "They're coming." "We'll say you fell down and fractured your thigh bone." "I'll put it in a cast and we'll make up a name for the chart." "Pick a good name." "Order!" "Come on!" "Keep going!" "Suddenly he became anxious." "What if someone asked the teacher... and found out the story about Father wasn't true?" "ST." "BENEDICT SCHOOL" "STATE SCHOOL" "The school was nationalized and they never saw their old teacher again." "He felt relieved." "There was no longer anything to fear." "We'll talk over everything together." "We'll take field trips wherever you'd like." "You'll choose your own leader." "We call that self-rule, you see." "Who do you want to be your leader?" "Choose a boy you trust who will keep order." "He'll tell me if you need something or if there's a problem." "He'll lead the class, as a commander leads his soldiers." "Well, who should it be?" "Miss, let it be TakÕ!" "His father was a partisan!" "That's a lie!" "Was your father a partisan?" "Yes." "Well, then, you should be the leader." "Great, isn't it?" "This is north and that's south." "Let me see." "Careful." "Don't break it." "I have to put it back." "North, east, west, south." "Give it to me." " What did your father need it for?" " Want to see some medical books?" "Yeah!" "Come on." " What language is that?" " Latin." " Did your father speak Latin?" " Yes, very well." "He traveled a lot." "Doctors all over the world speak Latin." "He also spoke German." "As a student, he cycled with his friends all over Germany... and lots of other countries too." "During summer break... they just got on their bikes and off they went." "I still have a bit of one of his tires." "I'll show you." ""We slept here." "Travel on tomorrow."" ""The sea at last!"" "BI KES FOR RENT" "Want some cigarette papers?" "They were my dad's." "Thanks." "I would like to know what made you decide to break with tradition... and replace certain letters with special signs." "Stand up." "Go to the blackboard and show us how you write the letter "d."" "Not like that!" "The way you wrote it in your paper." ""Went swimming here." "It was great!"" " Why are you still awake?" " Where have you been?" " I was talking to someone." " Who?" "A man." "You don't know him." " The one who brought you home?" " Yes." " Why did he kiss your hand?" " That's the custom." "He was being polite." " Are you going out with him?" " Oh, my, yes." "Are you going to marry him?" "I don't know yet." "He would love me to." "He who fights for peace is invincible" "The path to peace is the way" "If our unity is unwavering" "We shall conquer war at last" "We cast off our chains Work is ourjoy" "Our goal is new life Not slaughter anew" "Nothing is achieved without struggle" "Let's fight for it like real men" "Hello!" "Hello, Nádasdy!" " What are you doing?" " Nothing." " Come down." " I can't." " Why not?" " My sister's sick." "I have to take care of her." " What's wrong with her?" " She's got a fever." "You come up." " Shall we?" " Sure." " Now?" " Now." "Let's go." " Have you been to their place before?" " Never." "Neither have I." " They are counts." "Did you know that?" " Yes." "Should we not go?" "He invited us." "Hello." "This way." "Not there." "Let's go out on the balcony." " Is this rocking chair yours?" " It belonged to my grandmother." "We used to have one just like it." " How do you sit in it?" " You've never seen one before?" "Never." "You just sit in it and rock." " What do you think?" " Let me try." "Are you crazy?" " You're counts, right?" " Yes." "And who are the barons?" "My mother's side." "She was a baroness before." " When did she become a countess?" " When she married my father." "And your father?" "He was born a count." "Inherited it from my grandfather." " And your grandfather?" " He inherited it too." " They were all counts." " But how did they become counts?" "I don't know." "They were appointed by the king." " Why?" " They must have been on good terms." " Is your sister a count too?" " Countess." "Countess." "Right." " Did you have servants too?" " Yes." "Did they fulfill all your wishes?" "What do I know?" "I was just a baby." "But people bowed wherever you went and your wishes were commands?" "I guess." " Were you tyrants?" " Yeah." " And now they've taken everything away?" " Yes." " Are you sorry?" " No." " Do you mind not being a count anymore?" " No." "I want to be an engineer anyway." " Your father was just a count?" " Yeah." "What's he doing now?" "I don't know." "He ran off with a German woman during the war." " To where?" " Germany." " Just like that?" " Yeah." " And he left you and your mother?" " Yes." "Why?" "He had enough of us, I suppose." "He cheated on Mom, and they fought a lot." "Why did he cheat on her?" "Didn't he love her?" "I don't know." "Then why did he marry her?" "I wasn't there." "Where does your mother work now?" "She's the cashier at the Forum Cinema." "That's a nice theater!" "They show sexy movies." "Can she let you in free?" "She never lets me in." "My father never cheated on my mother, and Mother wouldn't cheat on him either." " Dr. TakÕ, do you want to marry this girl?" " I do." " And do you want to marry this man?" " I do." "Will you love each other forever?" "Yes." " Will you ever cheat on each other?" " No." "Should anything happen to one of you, would you marry again?" " No." " Never." " Swear on your children's lives." " I swear." " So help you God." " So help me God." "The partisans are Communists, and they don't believe in God." "If your father was a partisan, he could never swear to God." "He might never even have gone to church." "Nonsense!" "You don't know what you're talking about." "Jesus and the Communists want the same thing:" "To give everything to the poor." "They want people to be equal." "They want to free the oppressed." "It's all the same." "But who are the oppressed now?" "Them, I think." "As punishment for the past." "In the name of the troop council and the entire troop..." "I propose that we admit Nádasdy." "Nádasdy is a class enemy." "Not anymore." "He says he wants to be an engineer." "Not a count or a tyrant at all." "What an idea!" "It's out of the question." "Why?" "We know for sure he doesn't want to be a count anymore!" "He knows that counts used to be tyrants... but he was only a baby then, and his sister had just been born." " Why don't you believe us?" " I do, but it isn't that simple." " It's out of the question." " Why?" "I think my father was a class enemy too, before he became a partisan." "I read that Karl Marx's mother was a countess too." "All right." "I'll ask the principal." "Miki!" "Where are you?" "I'm so thirsty!" "Here you are." "Don't drink too much." "I'm not going to keep running out for water." " Did you take her temperature?" " Yes, just before you came." " What was it?" " 102." " How long did you leave it in?" " Ten minutes." "Silly!" "It should've been 15!" " How do you know?" " I know." "My father was a doctor." " They told me ten." " I'm telling you..." "Miki, don't go!" "I've got a headache." "Am I going to die?" "You're an idiot." " Where do you feel pain?" " All over my head." "I know a trick that will help right away." "Lay still." "That's better, isn't it?" "I learned it from my father." "He was a doctor." "A surgeon." "He cured everyone." "He wore absolutely white scrubs." "His cap was white, even his shoes... and he would tie a white cloth over his face." "He saved my mother's life... even though doctors are not allowed to treat their own family." " Does it still hurt?" " Not anymore." "Come again sometime." "Maybe I'll marry you." "Okay." "Let me show you something." "This is my dad." " Let me see!" " You can see it from there." ""Klari dear, I found this old photo of your poor husband operating." "Or is it Laci Wieser?"" "Over the hills and through the valleys the train goes clickety-clack" "Of all the pretty girls I will choose you" "Our only motto is lasting peace" "Comejoin us and we'll fight for it together" "Lungs are clear." "Bence CzakÕ." "No pathological changes in the chest." "MiklÕs Nádasdy." "Lungs are clear." "LászlÕ SztanÕ." "No pathological changes." "Károly Csermák." "Lungs are clear." "Gábor Algács." "Lungs are clear." "Years have passed, and he's taller now than Father was." "These old English fabrics!" "They last you 30 years." "Look at that!" "I can barely take it apart." "Look, a team pin." "My goodness." "What a great team they were!" "Halász, Csutak..." "Dimény, ErÕss, Bálint, Asztalos." "You could really count on them." "It was good back then." " Those glasses make you look like a martyr." " What kind of martyr?" "A hero of the Movement." "Killed in action." " Why?" " I don't know." " Are they your glasses?" " Yes." " Can you see without them?" " Yes." "Then why do you wear them?" "I like them." "But I don't wear them all the time." "Take them off." "You look much better." " Anni!" "Anni!" "Hello!" " Hello!" " What's happening?" " We're having a meeting!" "Tell the others I'll be there." "I just got my secret file." "Let me see it!" "Kortvelyesi told him not to set foot in the university again." "He burst into tears." "Say, what was your father?" " My father?" " Yes." "A doctor." "A surgeon." "He was some high Party functionary, wasn't he?" " My father?" " Yes." "You're crazy!" "He's dead." "He died in '45." "All right." "What an idiot!" "Hey, guys, we need a flag and we couldn't find a single one." " There's one in the guard's room." " It's gone already." " They used to keep them in the attic." " None there either." "There's one at the dormitory, but that's way too far." "It doesn't matter." "Someone has to go get it." "Any volunteers?" "Anyone?" "My watch stopped." "Damn.!" "That's all I needed." "The road's clear." "I can cross." "Good morning." " The glass broke and it stopped." " Let me have a look." " Is the end of the week all right?" " Fine." " Where have you been?" " At the university." " What have you been doing?" " Nothing." "You're driving me crazy!" "You took the key to the glass cabinet with the bust of Lenin." "All the tenants are coming here for a meeting and they'll see it!" " Why here?" " How should I know?" " There." " What am I supposed to do with it now?" "I should hide it somewhere." "Mother... did you ever think of leaving the country?" "Oh, yes." "In '40 or '42." "But it was too late by then." "I always wanted to go to Australia... but your father said that was crazy." "Everything would be all right here." "He was a great patriot, you know." "By the time he finally made up his mind, it was too late." "Hello." "I'm looking for the watchmaker." "He's gone... to the country." " When do you expect him back?" " I don't really know." "I left my watch with him." "He promised to repair it by the end of the week." "Would you please see if he's left it here?" "What did it look like?" "It's rectangular, with a brown leather strap." " Let's see." " Thank you." "Why don't you look for it yourself?" " Did somebody die?" " No." "Nobody." "What's up?" "Everything all right?" " What do we do now?" " Just do what everyone else does." " How much are they paying?" " Sixty forints." "We need 80." "Can you get them to pay us more?" " Give me one." " Me too." " I haven't got one." " I want a star." "Listen, everyone!" "You're tired and cold." "You've been tortured." "You're on your way to a concentration camp." "A German military vehicle will be driving across the bridge... so stay out of the way." "After it passes, fill up the road again." "Here we go!" "Get moving!" "More serious, please!" "Let us feel the tragedy, the tears!" "Stop!" "No good!" "Start again." "The man in the black cap, stop laughing!" "This is a tragedy!" "No laughing!" "Let's try it again." "Here we go." "I'm begging you, no laughing!" "This is no laughing matter!" "Action!" "Let's go." "Stop!" "Go back!" "Go back!" "Quick!" "Move it!" "Stop in front!" "Once again, now." "Faster!" "Stop!" "I want one more Nazi there!" " Not there!" " This guy?" "Him?" "Take off your star." "Quick, bring a Nazi cap and a gun!" "Take off the star." "Ready?" "All right!" "Soldiers, close in on the crowd." "Shove them together." "Come on, closer." "Stay where you are." "Start moving from here." "Shove them back!" "More forcefully!" "I told you to get closer!" "Come on!" "Don't go easy on them!" "Be rough and violent!" "All right, move it!" "Come on, faster!" "Run!" "Soldiers, push the crowd together!" "Stop." "Go back." "We missed all that." "Lucky we were born later, aren't we?" "Funny, I have no idea what my father was doing in '44." "He was a soldier." "I suppose he was just trying to save his skin." "It must have been difficult." "I just have some vague memories." "Dead horses... bombs." "It's awful... but for a long time I kept it a secret that my father died at Mauthausen." "I made up some story so I wouldn't have to admit that I was a Jew." "Then I realized it was useless, so I began to face it." "I even went to Auschwitz with a tour group." "I took photos of everything to show back home." "But every picture showed nothing but well-dressed tourists." "How could I show those?" "I still feel ashamed sometimes and pretend I didn't belong there." "I'm a Hungarian, right?" "Simply a Hungarian." "I've decided a hundred times there's no past... nothing." "But then something happens and I want to be one of them again." "I want people to know the reason my parents had to die." "And then I feel ashamed once again." "I don't know how to act." "I don't know where I belong... where I should belong or want to belong." "The pope absolved thejews." "He said they'd suffered enough for their sin." "That means they were guilty of having allowed Jesus' crucifixion 2,000 years ago." "What about those who gassed and burned six million people 20 years ago?" "You see how angry I can get in a moment?" "What an idiotic thing this Auschwitz is!" "My past... where my father and relatives were killed." "But I can't keep saying it to get sympathy... just because my relatives were killed and I've had enough suffering!" "In the end, I feel ashamed to be one of those whose families were killed." "And I keep having to repeat it:" ""My father died in the persecution..."" "I'm always feeling like I have to prove..." "My grandmother suggested I have my nose done." "What do you think?" " I've been talking a lot of nonsense." " Not at all." "Really." "Believe me." "Bye." "Anni!" " Where are you running to?" " Home." " Are you in a hurry?" " Yes." "Why?" " It's late." " No, it isn't." "Yes, it is." "I'd like to kiss you." "Thank you." " What for?" " Your sympathy." "You'll all so good at being sympathetic." "Did I succeed in making you feel sorry for me?" " I'll see you home." " Don't." " Why not?" " I don't feel like being seen home." " Are you afraid of being seen?" " There's nobody to look." "Beginning in the fall of'44, he hid a lot of people in the hospital." "He'd put their leg or arm in a cast... so the Nazis wouldn't suspect." "He would go to the ghetto with his friends, wearing Nazi armbands... to get out as many people as possible and hide them in the hospital." "In the last weeks, even the hospital cellar and garden were full." "When they could come out at last... they gathered their bandages in one big pile." "Will you let me have that boy, Doctor?" "I'd like to keep him if nobody claims him." "Give him away?" "This boy?" "Not for anything in the world!" "Push!" "Come on!" "Are you going towards town?" "Can I paste this on?" "Go ahead!" "Stick it on and then get in!" ""Missing"" ""Baker... 27 Danko St."" "Come on!" "Give me more!" "I'll stick them all up!" ""Sergei, I can't live without you..." "Lyuba."" ""Taken to Mauthausen in 1944..."" ""Has anyone seen this woman?"" ""Looking for my wife..."" "The "Daily Freedom"!" "Zoltán!" "Sorry." "The "Daily Freedom." Hot off the press!" "Imagine:" "I've got a date." "Who is it?" "An old suitor." "Laci Wieser." "I ran into him on the streetcar." "He wanted to marry me once." "He carried me over the Chain Bridge in his arms." " When was that?" " Some thirty years ago." " Is he married?" " His wife died a long time ago." " He lives alone?" " Yes." "Be smart, Mother, and marry him." " What if he doesn't want to marry me?" " Then I'll have a talk with him." "What's he like?" "Well... old." "Hold this for a moment." "Let me have that." "Give it back." "Is there any beer left?" "Father." "This is where Father was born." "I didn't actually know the village." "I happened to recognize the name of the station." "Dr. TakÕ?" "Yes, I remember." "We had two doctors by that name." "Which one do you mean?" "One was tall, and the other was a short, stocky guy." "The short one." "He was a nice enough fellow." "I can't tell you much." "He used to play soccer in the courtyard with the orderlies." "A clever little man." "Whatever happened to him?" "Oh, yes, of course, he died." "I remember now." "He died." "He died in '45." "His wife came back to collect the things they left behind during the war." "I gave her a hand." "She was very pretty." "I never saw her again." " What do you know about Dr. TakÕ?" " He was a nice guy with glasses." "I think he was the first doctor in Hungary to use Evipan." " What's that?" " An anesthetic." "It keeps the patient sound asleep throughout the operation." "I see." "There's nothing else I can tell you." "I remember his wife better." "She should have remarried." "But it wasn't easy." "Who would have taken her with a child?" "Dr. TakÕ?" "Yes, I remember him." "What was he like?" "What was he like?" "A very kind man with smiling eyes." "He called me funny names like "Blossom."" "Why?" "He had a wife and child." "Do you know what happened to them?" "No, I don't." "Thank you." "Oh, God, why am I crying?" "How ridiculous!" "Would you happen to know what he did during the war?" "No, I don't." "This is where Father hid." "No, I made that story up." "Or did he really hide here?" "I still remember his favorite tune." "His patients loved him, especially the miners." "He knew how to talk to them." "On his morning rounds he'd ask, "Have you had a good drink yet?" "I don't set foot in this hospital without a good shot of brandy first."" "Of course it wasn't true, but he'd just keep talking and talking." "Every night he'd call on each ward and say..." ""Sleep well, and wake up healthy!"" "He'd say something in German:" "Gute Nacht, or something like that." "Would you happen to know who lived here before?" "Some doctor, I think." " He went to America." " When?" "In about '48." "Or was it before the war?" "Yes, it was before the war." " Was this your father's medical bag?" " Yes." "Did you meet his friends?" "What did they say about him?" " Nothing in particular." " But you must have found out..." "No, nothing new." "Not even a few new details?" "Why don't you tell me?" "It's too long and complicated." "What?" "It's silly." " Didn't they recognize you?" " Yes, they did." "Tell me, do you believe in God?" "No." "What do you believe in, then?" " In you, for instance." " Why me?" " Why don't you tell me?" " Tell you what?" "What they said about your father." " Who recognized you?" " An old orderly." "Did he recognize your face?" "No." "He recognized Father's coat." "He saw me in front of the hospital." "He stared, then asked me if I was Dr. TakÕ's son." "He used to work with Father." "He must have been very fond of him." "He was a very nice old man." "Why do I keep saying things that I only wish were true?" "It only makes me feel worse and ashamed of myself in the end." "Why does it make me happy when people listen to me and seem to like me... and believe whatever I want them to believe... and do whatever I want them to do?" "Father gives me such wonderful strength." "But why can't I do without him?" "Why don't I have the courage?" "When she saw me... at first she thought I was Father." "Is she pretty?" "Yes." " Thief!" " He stole the doctor's coat!" "He stole the doctor's coat!" "Where's Father?" "Maybe in there." "Where's Father?" "In there." "I'm going to have a baby." "Imagine, I had a dream that we were going to have a baby." "Were you happy about it?" "I'm not sure." "I need to tell you something strange." "The things I told you about Father aren't true." "I made up the story about the coat." "Some of the details were true, but I no longer remember which ones." "It made me feel better to tell those stories." "Do you understand?" "I must swim across the Danube." "I have to do something on my own, with my own strength." "Something that requires courage and persistence... that you have to do all-out, where you can't turn back halfway." "I must swim across alone... and notjust tell others that Father used to do it... as if it had been my achievement." "Only weaklings keep making up stories." "It's good to swim like this, with long, even strokes." "Calmly." "I can make it all right." "I'll just keep going." "Keep going." "If I make it to the other shore... it will feel fantastic.!" "I must swim across the Danube." "This is all just pretending, of course... so my grandchildren can say:" "'Grandpa often used to swim across the Danube. '" "Even so, I have no choice." "I have to do it." "I have to swim across on my own." "Nobody's helping me now." "I know I'm completely alone." "No matter what happens, I'm still alone." "For once, I must fight my way through something on my own." "Watch where you're crossing." "Stay in the crosswalk, please." "Let the cars through, please." "Let the bus through." "Stay in the crosswalk." "THE END"