Moszkva tér (2001) User Reviews

If you come from the West, see this when coming to Hungary

[Yrusac · 8/10 · 26 November 2001]

On Saturday I managed to find a 'mozi' that showed this film with English subtitles. Fortunately I would say, because this is a nice film. I was a little ill that day, but I found myself running after tram 6 at Margit híd (Margaret's bridge) in the freezing cold to get to Moszkva tér (Moscow square) where I live.

As you may guess, I'm not from Hungary, but it was nice to see this film and get a glimpse of Hungarian youth around the transition time in 1989. Of course, it's hard to judge for me if their image is correct, but I felt it was. We see high school students in and after their exam time, showing no interest whatsoever in what is going on around them, except for when it concerns material stuff.

A nice moment is the (assumed) bed-scene in Paris during the television-broadcast of the news of Kádár's (the communist leader) death. Afterwards the Moscow Square Cowboy returns, to live his life in McDonald's in Budapest. The iron curtain dropped, the West opens and the youths flee out.

Old skool nostalgia

[rykoman · 8/10 · 5 November 2002]

The movie takes place in 1989 when I was 15 years old and thanks to my clear memories, I must admit that the director managed to catch the atmosphere of the period. It was a time of big changes, the communist system collapsed, a "great" Hungarian leader died while a very important historical character, Imre Nagy, executed after the 1956 revolution, was finally given the honor of being buried. The setting is also excellent, the movie really looks as if it was shot in 89. For foreign viewers however this film doesn't say much because it's full hidden of jokes that only we understand, for example when the boys are sitting in a cab singing the horrible Opus song Life Is Life and at one point in the lyrics they sing Levelet Kaptam Life, because in the 80s nobody knew what the singer says there. What I missed was the lack of the depth of the characters and the plot wasn't very strong either but we mustn't complain because Moszkva Tér is a massive standout in contemporary Hungarian cinema.

optimistic

[burlst · 7/10 · 1 November 2001]

I just saw this movie in what I think is the only movie theater in Budapest playing it with English subtitles. Situated in Budapest in 1989, is the story of a group of fellow students at a secondary school, and their graduation in the transition times before the collapse of communism. Simple, fresh and and with an optimistic feeling. Maybe a little bit too innocent. It lacks from any long and slow scenes I was expecting from what I think is the first Hungarian film I saw. I won't say is anything brilliant, but I liked this refreshing view of the particular way of the Hungarian.

You'll probably go out of the cinema with a smile on your face.

Best Hungarian film ever?

[ian_oas · 10/10 · 7 July 2006]

This film is excellent in so many ways it is difficult to contain my emotions about it. I'm an American who speaks Hungarian well enough to follow the film. This film does not have English subtitles on the Hungarian DVD release, which is an incredible shame, because it is priceless. It illustrates youth apathy and confusion under both the communist system and during the post-communist transformation better than any film I have seen. Moreover, unlike Goodbye, Lenin!, with an intricate and contrived storyline that takes 2.5 hours to unfold, this film runs more like "La Haine" and/or "City of God (Cidade de Deus)" without the violence. It follows some teen friends around Hungary, etc., while the transformation comes about. It is absolutely priceless and should be mandatory viewing in any social science classes on post-socialist transformation -- if a version with English subtitles can be secured. Stellar, stellar, stellar film!

Best Hungarian movie in the last 6-7 years!

[szigma · 10/10 · 19 November 2001]

First of all, I'm Hungarian. And I just happened to be a student at the time of the fall of communism. I think that this movie has captured it all. Every scene reminds me of something, every scene is a hit. The dialogues are perfect and the acting is surprisingly good (for newer Hungarian movies!). The last line of the movie sums up the whole feeling of this era.

Best movie, lots o' fun!...but only if you have the same experience as me. You have to be a young Hungarian to enjoy this movie. Otherwise, you just won't get it. You'd think it's slow, clumsy, low on moral etc.etc... But that's the way we were!!! A direct hit. Go see it, it will help you see things from another point of view!

only good Hungarian movie to deal with end of Communism

[taylorj-4 · 10/10 · 13 June 2005]

Only movie made since 1989 to really be able to explain the end of Communism, and they did so by showing it through the eyes of 18-year-olds who didn't really understand it themselves. The comment about Csalamade is extremely profound. It described the crappy nature of things back then in those days, which, none the less, we've become nostalgic for. And most all of things described, really did happen: The exam questions were leaked. Young Hungarians got their first chance to travel through Western Europe on those forged train tickets. And a Hungarian graduation ceremony really does look like that. Director still had the same sense of social accuracy in his latest film, Season, but he missed the profound statements he gave us in Moskva ter.

A view from Moszkva/Moscow Square

[Weredegu · 10/10 · 12 March 2007]

It's mighty difficult for me to write a useful recommendation for this movie. Headed home after a party at around dawn I still stop for the odd freak-burger at Moszkva Square or Moscow Square, at the very place that you can see in the movie. And I recognize so much from my own memories from my own high school times, even though the youth of the film are not exactly my generation, it's almost too much to me. The point where this closeness of the film peaked was when I even discovered the guy running this DVD rental place about two minutes from where I live, in a minor role in the cast.

So, for your information, the most important thing to note might be that this film is very authentic. If you want to see the socialist/post-socialist transition for whatever it was, check it out. This is what it felt like, this is us (Budapest, Hungary, at the time). I cannot describe these things in fully rational terms. Perhaps you can. Enjoy the benefit of insight, you're guaranteed to have it.

great movie

[ponsuki · 2 September 2013]

This is a great movie about the Budapest and Hungary at the "turn of the systems". The movie was made a decade after the change, yet it presents an incredible level of details about the life and people of the 1990's. It presents well how students spent their free time and weekends, the type of parties they attend, movies they watched and teachers they had in the secondary school. It also presents the true event about the leak of the final, graduation exam questions (the audit truth is that those exam questions were leaked by the son of a politician (social party member - later prime minister). This leaking resulted that the final history exam results were canceled all over the country in that year.

Love story during the fall of communism

[awender · 9/10 · 18 February 2003]

The film tries to capture all the facets of the Hungarian history in 1989. It tries to represent the change from the point of view of young high school students.

All the Hungarian people till 1988 lived in a lie. One year later everything was destroyed. Forty years of socialist culture fades away in some weeks. The opressing forces of the Soviets leaves the country and leaves the country as it is. A country without future, without any ideas, how to go on, how to raise from the dust.

I would recommmend the film for those, who like controversy and for those, who are very open for human feelings.