Writing
Gráci has been recently released from a reformatory school. His old gang would like to involve him in a new action, but he hesitates. His past record is bad enough already, and he would not like to get into new trouble.
Andras Kovacs' film, considered one of the most important Hungarian films of the 1960s, centers around four men who await trial for their involvement in the massacre of several thousand Jewish and Serbian people of Novi Sad in 1942. Each denies any responsibility, claiming that they were only following orders. The film is significant for its willingness to address the subject of Hungary's role in WWII, which was taboo at the time of the its release.
A murder took place in 1961, a middle-aged man, father of a family, Dávid Sajgó, was found dead in his village gate in the morning. During the police investigation it was established that the murdered man had visited Anna Töre in the village the previous evening, had besieged her with a love proposal and had repeatedly proposed marriage. Anna Töre, who was a good-looking woman, had raised three children alone, by three different fathers, and was considered an eccentric in the community. She was suspected in the death.
Panni, coming from a landless family of ten and Miska have loved each other for a long time. The pretty Panni, however, has another suitor as well: Komáromi, the big farmer. The two men fight from time to time, but then, during the time Miska is serving his military duty, Panni marries Komáromi to end the tremendous squalor of her family.
