István Szabó-Apa ('Father') (1966)

A young boy's vivid imagination liberates him from the grim realities of war-torn Hungary in Father, an enchanting fable that evokes the childhood wonder of The 400 Blows and Cinema Paradiso, Ever since the death of his father, young Tako (Dani Erdélyi) has filled the paternal void with a series of fantasies in which his father (Miklós Gábor) is envisioned as a partisan freedom-fighter, a cultured world traveler and a decorated hero. When he reaches manhood, Tako (now played by András Bálint) struggles to live up to the heroic image he crafted, even as he discovers a world in which valor has little place. But he cannot relinquish the comforting daydreams, and as the fantasies he harbors become more elaborate, the mythic father becomes a heroic protector of the Hungarian Jews during the Nazi occupation. By depicting Tako in the wake of Wold War II and on the brink of revolution in the 1960s, acclaimed filmmmaker István Szabó mirrors the confusion of childhood with the turmoil of political upheaval. The result is a simple ode to the human spirit, and a memorable tribute to survive in the face of adversity. KINO Video




With his film Father, Hungarian film titan Istvan Szabo created a watershed film about the coming of age of a boy who lost his father while still a small child, and who, as he grows up, fills the void left by his father's premature death by reconstructing who the man was in his imagination. (amazon.com)




The movie has a two-part structure, the first focusing on the boy while still in grade school, the second part showing him as a young man. The latter part is played by Hungarian film and theater legend András Bálint, who is perfect in the role. (amazon.com)




Father touches on many facets of Hungarian life and culture during the communist era, but offers no harsh editorials and doesn't allow the story to veer far from the perspective of a young man looking for the truth about where he came from. The film is emotional and tinged with sentimentality without being mawkish, and showcases Szabo's unique brand of neo-New Wave storytelling at its best. (amazon.com)




Affectionate tale of a young boy finding himself through his memories of his father. Szabo's second feature is the work of a born filmmaker. He displays a wonderful visual eye. The performances are effective and the story is one we can all relate to. Regardless of where we come from. (amazon.com)