Springtime in Budapest

Budapest, Christmas 1944. Pintér and Gozsó, two Hungarian deserters, try to find their way to Pintér's home, where his family is hiding a young Jewish woman. Soviet troops surround the city, but German forces are still in power. The next few days will push the two into a war for freedom for themselves, their loved ones, their city, and their homeland. Springtime in Budapest is the first Hungarian film to deal with the War and Holocaust. Though the film was meant to be a sort of historical monument, the filmmakers succeeded in suppressing the propaganda by mainly using lessons from neo-realism in the design of the space and the characters - with many stories from the eyes of the residents, and by using a framework of time and place to draw a portrait of Hungary at war: occupation, cooperation, resistance, holocaust, revival. These occurrences are woven into a dramatic historical epic, executed by the hand of an artist with stunning cinematography and design and some breathtaking moments.