Welcome
The
Visegrad Review
(Vol. I, no. 1 — April 2010)
A scholarly, interdisciplinary journal
ISSN 1920-8782
(Print)
ISSN 1920-8790
(Online)
Editor-in-chief: Christopher Adam
East/Central European states share a common historical heritage,
each of them having been impacted by pre-World War I empires, Soviet
influence and a dramatic transition to democracy and free market
economy in 1989. Twenty years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and
the re-introduction of multi-party democracy, the member states of the
Visegrad Group should aim for greater cooperation and alignment of
policies when negotiating with other European Union countries, in order
to increase the region’s voice and weight both within the EU and
abroad.
This website and journal hopes to help increase awareness about the
political, social, economic and cultural trends occurring in the four
member states, provide a forum for scholars and assist in developing
greater dialogue in the region.
Hungarian film screened in Ottawa
1 December 2009
The Visegrad Review Online
Hungarian director Ferenc Török’s most recent film, entitled Overnight,
was screened in Ottawa this evening, as part of the European Film
Festival. The Library and Archive Canada’s auditorium was packed for
the screening–organized in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic
of Hungary in Ottawa–with a mix of Hungarians, English-speaking
Canadians with a keen interest in foreign films and other Eastern
Europeans, who will see films in their own languages shown in upcoming
nights. (A Polish film entitled Little Moscow and directed by Waldemar
Krzystek will be screened on 3 December 2009 at 9:00pm.)
Overnight portrays 21st century contemporary, urban and multicultural
Hungary.
The film’s characters are nearly all stereotypical ‘yuppies’ who
come of age following the transition to democracy and capitalism in
1989/90, speak multiple foreign languages, dine at trendy restaurants,
rely heavily on the newest forms of technology and are well-travelled.
But the world of brokers and bankers as portrayed in this film is
ultimately drab, unnerving and unsatisfying all at the same time.
Török’s use of washed-out colours throughout the film makes this
especially apparent. Budapest is portrayed as a cool, sterile and
corporate city of glass office towers, commercial garages, ultramodern
flats and–rather fittingly–of traffic gridlock. The main characters
comfortably switch between Hungarian and German dialogue, read the
Financial Times with their morning cereal, mix English words in nearly
all of their sentences when speaking Hungarian, casually call their
corporate friends based in India and enjoy casual sex with multiple
partners–including their co-workers–during their free time. Their world
is ultimately an artificial one and it is difficult to empathize with
any of these characters. Perhaps the most down-to-earth, sympathetic
young man in the film is the one who gets absolutely no lines. He is
the grungy anti-globalization activist who straps himself to an antenna
outside the town of Veszprém, threatening to bring down Hungary’s
mobile communications network and hence shutting down Budapest’s
yuppies for the day. Sadly, he is arrested and we see nothing more of
the film’s only loveable character.
Overnight’s aims to portray contemporary Hungary and unlike most
movies, makes no reference to the country’s past. But with scenes
switching between the gritty streets of Bombay and corporate Budapest,
the film is less about Hungary and much more about a world and social
class where precious little is of any value, if it’s not listed on the
stock exchange.