Gyorgy Banffy Movies

The second film in the trilogy made by director Istvan Szabo and actor Klaus Maria Brandauer -- hammocked between Mephisto and Hanussen -- Colonel Redl continues Mephisto's fascination with a man overwhelmed by history. In that film, Brandauer played an actor who tried to ignore the rise of the Third Reich, and here he's an ambitious military officer in pre-World War I Austria whose career path is set early on. In military school, he's forced to inform on a student who's the source of a practical joke; though he beats himself up for being a Judas, he soon realizes that to rise in the ranks he must overcome his peasant background and hide his homosexuality by ingratiating himself with his superiors. In time, he becomes Chief of Military Intelligence for the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Though he professes to hate politics and politicians, Redl also can't avoid them. When the leader for whom Redl is supposedly spying among the officer corps, draws up a list of who can't be exposed for traitorous activities (including Austrian nobles, Hungarians, Czechs, Serbs, Croatians, and even the usual scapegoats, Jews -- the aftershocks of the Dreyfuss affair are still rumbling), he tells Redl that he must find a double of himself, a Ukrainian. Now certain that he will be exposed, Redl surrenders to fate, quoting to his wife from Montaigne: "It's no sin to be involved. It's a sin to remain involved." Brandauer is a wonder as the self-loathing Redl, and Szabo's camera picks up every nuance on his expressive face. The film eschews music except for several party scenes, and the absence of a score is most effective in the final shots of Redl's fellow officers awaiting his fate. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

This film seems to be saying that even when you try hard, things may still not work out. Julia (Juli Basti) works in a factory but has taken it upon herself to check in with different people to make sure everything is going well for them. To that end, she comes up to a house where two older girls and a little boy are left alone for long periods of time because Arpad (Jan Nowicki) their father has to work late. When Juli talks to the father he agrees to let her move in because the children need a mother, and she still continues with her work in the factory. Soon Juli and Arpad have developed a romantic attachment, but he has an alcohol problem which is probably at the source of some troubles at work that land him in jail. When he gets out, he is arrested again for political reasons. Meanwhile, Juli has decided to move out, and she becomes seriously ill and ends up in the hospital. All told, the future seems to hold no good tidings for either Juli or Arpad, much less the hapless children. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

When a factory is destroyed by fire, the investigation yields questions about relations between workers and management. Authorities are concerned that strained labor relations may have lead to the blaze. An attorney discovers a man who is not on the company payroll has perished in the fire, which leads to arrests and a re-examination of the causes of the disaster. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi