The Red and the White

The Red and the White Hungarian Csillagosok, katonk is a 1967 film directed by Mikls Jancs and dealing with the Russian Civil War. The original Hungarian title, Csillagosok, katonk, can be translated as Stars on their Caps literally starries, soldiers, which, as with a number of Jancs film titles, is a quote from a song. The film was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was canceled due to the events of May 1968 in France. It was voted as Best Foreign Film of 1969 by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.

The film tells the story of the Hungarian branch of the soldiers who, during World War I ended up in Russian captivity. When the revolution breaks out and a civil war in Russia, the soldiers are on the side of the Bolsheviks. Some are hoping that this will make it easier to come home. Others feed on sympathy for the ideology of communism. Soon have to fight with an army of White Guards, who tend to be very cruel.The film was not well received in the Soviet Union, where it was first reedited to put a more heroic spin on the war for its premiere and then banned. However, in Hungary and the West it was favourably received and it had a theatrical release in many countries opening in the United States onSeptember 1968. It remains one of Jancss most widely seen and admired films, although audiences often find it exceedingly difficult to follow. The films difficulty stems from its lack of central characters and defiant rejection of war film conventions for example, key moments of action, such as the deaths of certain characters are sometimes shot with a long lens from a distance rather than in closeup, making it unclear what has happened or who it has happened to. Supporters of the film point out that the hardtofollow plot merely reflects the confused and meaningless nature of war itself and that Jancss aim is to prevent us from emotionally identifying with any one side in the battle of ideologies. For this reason, detractors and even supporters often find the film to be cold and mechanical. However, the films defenders contrast this approach with more conventional antiwar films, which often paradoxically adopt the same visual language and narrative conventions as heroic war films.citation needed ........

Source: Wikipedia