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While the Bangalore International Film Festival (BIFFES) may not have pushed the boundaries on a significant part of its content, it certainly achieved this objective with the country focus on Hungary.

A once-thriving industry, Hungarian cinema has had a rather tumultuous path through World War II, the 1956 Uprising, years of Soviet occupation and the difficulties of the post-Soviet, free-market reality of the last decade and more. Little explored outside of Eastern Europe because of difficulties in language and culture, Hungarian cinema is nevertheless one of the great traditions of cinema in the world.

The five films of the focus on Hungary at BIFFES, therefore, were quite the experience themselves, but also added up to more than the sum of their parts. Spanning a range of ideas and aspects of the Hungarian identity, the five films also covered an interesting range of thematic spaces: from the pastoral to the mystical, all the while grounded in the pertinently social.

One of the most interesting elements of this collection of films was the subjugation of reality to the thematic needs of the subject matter.

In “Dealer”, for instance, director Benedek Fliegauf sets his deliberations of life and death in an imaginary place and an essential time, thus coalescing a much larger argument on fate and free will with the everyday story of a drug dealer. Similarly, Peter Gardos uses magical realism to hint at the conflict that Hungarians have been subjected to as a result of the many political upheavals the country suffered through in the 20th century. Then there’s Zoltan Kamondi’s “Temptations”, where folk mysticism and Eastern Europe’s troubled encounters with the gypsy culture are explored.

Also fascinating about some of the films in the selection was the restraint exercised in the use of words and dialogue. In the case of Gyorgi Palfi’s “Hukkle”, the art of telling with pictures rather than words found its most perfect expression.

The film traces the interconnectivity of all life through a lush pastoral look of a rural Hungarian community, its human constituents treated on the same level as its plant and animal members. Almost completely bereft of human voices, except as environmental noise, the film uses a lush palette of natural sound and beautifully crafted images of the natural world to create a lazy, sun-soaked-afternoon-nap atmosphere one could just sink into.

But beneath it all, lurks the possibility of murder, and the feeling that there is more to this community than is apparent at any time.

In its exposition of ideas and themes peculiarly Hungarian, too, the country focus managed quite a success.

Particularly exciting was Kamondi’s nuanced take on the conflict arising from interactions between the Roma and the non-Roma people.

Struggling to steer clear of a depiction of mysticism that might descend into fairytale simplification, Kamondi puts forth an interesting contrast between the sure-footedness of the traditional gypsy girl and the hesitation and lack of clarity of the “modern” protagonist.

Exploring the underbelly in a completely different sense was Gyorgy Szomjas’s “Vagabond”, the tale of an orphan who struggles between the lure of a profitable criminal life and the inclusion and belonging he experiences as a folk musician.

Although lacking in narrative and cinematic strength, “Vagabond” is a sheer treat just for the folk music spirit that pervades every scene of this film.

Considered together, the five films of the country focus provided a view of Hungarian cinema that is far from the gloomy associations one usually makes with films from the region.

With great wit and a storytelling style not saddled with the compunctions of more accessible cinematic traditions, these films were certainly a refreshing perspective to look at.

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