Although he may not be as famous as his compatriots Bela Tarr or Istvan Szabo, Miklos Jancso is certainly one of the first echelons of Hungarian filmmakers. He was at the peak of his creativity in the sixties and seventies, and “Igy jöttem” or “My Way Home” belongs to the narrow circle of his most famous and best films. In fact, it was his first major film after which he stringed together several more blockbusters, most notably “Red Psalm” for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes. In “M Way Home”, he takes us to the final days of World War II, somewhere in the steppes of the Soviet Union, from where a 17-year-old Hungarian soldier is trying to return home.
But it won’t go easy at all because twice he will be captured by Soviet troops, once he will be released, another time he will escape, and “My Way Home” is perhaps a perfect example of Jancs ’lyricism. His standard themes run through it – random violence as a constant of human nature, abuse of power, all blended into beautiful exteriors. Stylistically, he is somewhat on the trail of films that the famous Soviet filmmaker Andrej Tarkovski, an unsurpassed film artist and poet, started shooting almost at the same time.
During his travels, the 17-year-old Hungarian soldier will make friends with a young Soviet soldier, even though they do not understand each other, and although the circumstances and environment in which they find themselves are not at all pleasant and dangerous, they are young men eager for life. The film is made with a lot of style and full of symbolism that can be seen as an allegory, an anti-war drama about a chance friendship between two young men who seem to have nothing in common, but are actually very similar. Rating 8/10.
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