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Abandoned

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Abandoned. (Torzók) 2001. Dir. Árpád Sopsits

Reviewed by Ollie - December 17th 2003.

WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS

Set in Hungary, this film follows the life of Aron, a young boy left to the mercy of an orphanage. A powerful and commanding performance by the entire cast will truly draw you into their stories. It would be unfair to single out the performance of Tamás Mészáros, as Aron, simply because the rest of the cast is so strong it makes this film a true ensemble piece.

This is not an easy film to watch. The immeasurable cruelty suffered by the children, at the hands of their teachers is agonising to watch. You genuinely feel for them, this is so real. The teachers are played with remarkable talent, the cast never flinching from the paths that have been laid out before them. I would imagine that their roles were as difficult to enact as they were to watch, and they are due an immense amount of respect for their portrayal of cold, calculating and manipulative excuses for human beings.

Throughout the film, Aron's indomitable spirit will stay with you, as you follow his woeful story, to it's conclusion.

The treatment suffered by these children is brutal. The teachers are bastards, and I make no apology for using that word. They are not worthy of anything more. This is a harsh, eyeopening lesson that children should always be seen AND heard.

There is only one benevolent teacher, whom Aron befriends, as together, they share a love of astronomy. Their friendship is doomed to a bitter end. Tortured by his conscience, the only good man commits suicide, and the impact of this is the eventual escape plan, lead by our young protagonist.

At this point, one would be forgiven for thinking this is where everything will turn out just fine and dandy, and all will be right with the world. Forget it. There are no happy endings here, no winners and no justice. I will not go into the fate that awaits these unfortunate children, but I guarantee that the end of this film will bring a tear to even the most hardened of eyes.

This film has an astonishing cast, who portray their respective characters with a reality that will haunt you for some time after. Emotionally draining it may be, but at the same time it is essential viewing, and as a piece of foreign cinema, offers another peek through the windows of someone elses world. This film isn't afraid to make a statement, and trust me, make a statement is exactly what it does. There are lessons in the tale which we would all do well to heed.

If you buy only one DVD in the coming months, make it this one.

I was absolutely stunned by the power of this film. The emotions portrayed by the cast were amazing. We see the friendship of young Aron and older Attila develop out of necessity. Their interactions are very touching indeed.

The cold world of the childrens home is not sugar coated for the viewer. Set in 1960 Hungary, where religion is illegal, we see a martyr character in Mate. After witnessing amazing cruelty, Aron plots escape with mixed results that will touch your heart.

What a surprise! Enjoy

i did enjoy this movie, i decided to order it on a whim, i love foreign films and the more dramatic the better, i will say that some of the write up are misleading.
the mention of the boy's sexual awakning is misinterpreted in my opinion.
Aron (our lead character) wakes from a bad dream in which he will not touch his mother's face, he then crawls out of his bunk and touches the face of a friend, a kind boy who in my opinion favors aron's mother abit. the boy conforts aron and while they share a brief kiss i hardly feel it was sexual.
other than this the movie lived up to the hype, i was concerned that i may be ordering something abit more risque than i wanted but i took a chance and am glad i did.
you will like this movie!!

Like many in America, I'm one who enjoys venturing away from the all-too-common Hollywood films that are filled with flashy violence, gangs, killings, (mostly done with special effects).... and of course an unending supply of four letter words in nearly every situation imaginable.

Yet foreign films often tend to derive their impact more from a sense of 'realism', and that is precisely what this film "Abandoned" ("Torzok") does.

Most of us would like to believe that a Hungarian orphanage such as the one depicted in this film could never exist. But they have.... and likely still do.

Some of the scenes I've read about in other reviews of this film have often been referred to as sexual, and I hardly see this as such. Most of us cannot begin to imagine what it must be like.... as a very small child being tossed into a world of sheer abandonment from any sense of security or love from family. But that is precisely what these children represent.... and a kiss between two little boys who share a bed after one has had a horrendous nightmare - - I can hardly imagine why one would consider this sexual.

There are many chilling scenes in this film.... most notably the whipping of one boy by other boys (against their will).

I was also deeply disturbed by the way the orphanage leader lied to the blonde-haired youngster, by bribing him with a lie about the child's brother. This is something I've reflected back upon with this film, and it bothered me as much, if not more than the physical abuse we see. Because as devastating as physical abuse may be.... nothing can compare to destroying the trust of a child in a moment of utter despair and vulnerability, (not only was the boy naked, he needed a reason at that very moment to believe and to have hope), and this trust is literally shattered with a false promise.

After renting this dvd, I have hesitated to purchase this film... because of the haunting effect it has on our inner-being. It forces me to wonder why one child in this world is fortunate - - - and another's fate is doomed before he's even given a chance to truly live. Perhaps I feel guilt in being one of the "fortunate" ones.

Abandoned is the story of a little boy who is dumped into a home for orphans. He and other boys are treated badly by the system there. The movie has a good plot and good character development. It is not intended as a family film, there is some nudity and a scene where a small boy is whipped badly. A kissing scene between two boys is charming, but I don't know how it will go over in America, where these things are rarely discussed. The movie has a lot of good qualities to it and is worth the money.

William.

'Torzók' ('Abandoned') is a brilliant Hungarian film written and directed by Árpád Sopsits that takes us back to Hungary of 1960 when the oppressive Communist rule altered the lives of everyone, especially children. The quality of the film is absolutely first rate from story to acting to filming to scoring. It may be a tough film to absorb and certainly not for the easily offended, but it is a perfectly honed gem of a film that deserves wide audience exposure.

Áron (Tamás Mészáros) is a young lad whose life seems warm at first until suddenly a disease of vision impairment attacks his mother and his parents divorce: the mother is somewhere in a hospital and the father (Sándor Gáspár) beats the boy and eventually turns him over to a rigid orphanage for boys run by cruel taskmasters. Áron undergoes initiation tactics by his fellow orphans but despite the beatings he is strong enough to survive. He is befriended when he has his nightmares about his mother's blindness by his friend Atilla (Szabolcs Csizmadia) and the two bond emotionally and physically. In this bleak atmosphere a little light comes from the beautiful young housekeeper Anya (Krisztina Somogyi) but even her contributions are compromised by the cruelty of the staff. There is one 'teacher' in the orphanage school, Nyitrai (László Gálffi) who has been reduced to his position as an 'imprisoned one' by the government and his sadness is offset by his playing his cello and studying his beloved astronomy. Nyitrai offers Áron solace and introduces his 'fellow traveler' to the glory of the stars, giving Áron a map of the heavens that Áron cherishes - his window to a world beyond the dark confines of his prison-like orphanage. He gradually wins over his fellow orphans and when Nyitrai, in the pit of depression for his life situation and the cruelty of the orphanage and the government, hangs himself. This horrid incident drives Áron to organize an escape from the orphanage, an event that is ultimately fractured with a death for which Áron feels responsible. And the end of the film fades into the many possibilities that event could trigger.

The atmosphere created by the stunning cinematography by Péter Szatmári defines the darkness that represents the orphanage well but also suggests the darkness in Hungary of that period. The musical score by Péter Fejcsik, Tamás Görgényi, Ferenc Toma, and Balázs Winkler is some of the most beautiful composed for the screen, making tremendously effective use of the cello and lower strings. In all, this is a brilliant piece of filmmaking, acted with depth in every role, and unveiling a portion of history and tragedy too often pushed to the background of our books. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 06

A new boy (Aron) has arrived at the orphanage. At first they pick on him but after awhile they decided he was one of them. The teachers inflict great abuse onto these children. Children who already have suffered and lost so much. Aron and Attila become close friends. When Aron has a bad dream, Attila lets him sleep in his bed. There seems to be more then just friendship between these two boys, but when you are young and have no one really to love, you often get close to those who have been kind to you. It was not what I thought it would be but I found it touching. So sad to see how unlucky so many children are and to see children who have so much and not appreciate all that they have. It is truely sad.

As a border-line autistic and mentally abused child, I just watched my childhood pass-by. I was never in my own life, just followed what happened to me, like watching a movie. My childhood was like boot-camp. Now that I'm older, I'm breaking out by reconstructing my new, more happy life thru understanding movies like this. Excellent movie, showing decisions/choices through logic that I am beginning to understand, versus instant obedience. Abandoned helped me understand childrens thought-process as it should have been for me. Good photopgraphy, color and direction. I would recommend to anyone, but you need to watch it closely without distractions. I have watched it 3 times already, and each time I understand the film and myself better.

I watched this with my 17 years old son, and we both were riveted to the television. I am not going to go into details since others have done a fine job at it, but the acting was superb, not something I believe I would ever have seen come out of Hollywood, but just an incredible movie about how the system with corrupt human adults ruin the children they are assigned to care for and the children fall so innocently through the cracks. I'm really picky about movies, they tend to bore me to tears, but this one, I am recommending.

I had been waiting a long time to see this movie. I guess it never could live up to the anticipation.

I felt horrible throughout the whole film. The acting and cinematography were lovely, I have no complaints there. But the story was hard to take, not to mention unbelievable.

I didn't know enough about the history of Hungary to understand the political turmoil with as much information as is provided. There's really no explained reason for the headmaster to be so cruel. I can't really even figure out the conflict of the film - no big epiphany. I was disappointed.

and I felt like a voyeur watching the lives of little boys (there are subtle sexual suggestions which I was very relieved didn't go anywhere)