Product Details

• Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Deborah Kara Unger
• Directors: István Szabó
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 8, 2001
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005ALP5
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,167 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Hungary

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Although Sunshine was made by a Hungarian, István Szabó, and deals with the history of Hungary as refracted through three generations of a Jewish-Hungarian family, you might be more inclined to give it three hours of your own life if you approach it as a David Lean movie in spirit. It is an English-language picture, and Maurice Jarre's music recalls his score for Doctor Zhivago. Szabó emulates Lean's intimate-epic style of merging the sweep of history with the crystalline detailing of individual lives, so that the shape of destiny is glimpsed through personal moments that feel at once evanescent and eternal. His lighting cameraman, Lajos Koltai, is one of the handful of cinematographers equal to capturing these moments in lapidary images--cinematic sunshine of the highest order.

"Sunshine" is a literal translation of Sonnenschein, the family name of the central characters. And "destiny" is one meaning of Sors, the name three Sonnenschein offspring choose for themselves to better assimilate as subjects of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Two are brothers, Ignatz (Ralph Fiennes) and Gustave (James Frain); their sister (by adoption) Valerie (Jennifer Ehle) is really their cousin. Both men love her, and Ignatz rocks the ultratraditional family by taking her as his wife. Nevertheless, the Sonnenscheins and the Sors enter upon the 20th century in loving solidarity, grateful to live under a liberal and tolerant regime. That's all swept away by the Great War, the rise of Nazism, and its replacement, the new fascism of Stalinist Communism. Valerie survives them all--though she's played later on by Rosemary Harris, Ehle's own mother. For his part--or parts--Ralph Fiennes goes on to embody two later generations of Sonnenschein/Sors men, the proudly patriotic Adam and his son, the rudderless Ivan, whose guilt over being a compliant prisoner at Auschwitz leads him to buy into the passionate puritanism of the Stalinist purges. Fiennes rises to the awesome challenge of creating three utterly distinct characters who all share the same congenital weaknesses and aching potential for greatness.

This is a film of considerable beauty and sometimes shattering power. Even three hours is not enough to do justice to all the characters, all the wrenching turnarounds of history and political allegiance and rectitude. But the film is never less than gripping, and as an essay on "family values," it's well-nigh definitive. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UNJUSTLY OVERLOOKED, January 28, 2001

By	The philosopher (Mass.) - See all my reviews

It is too bad that so few people saw this film -- one of the best films of 2000. It focuses upon several generations of an ambitious Jewish family in Austria-Hungary. Its message is sad: in 20th century Eastern Europe, the Jews had no hope integrating -- not with the Emperor, not with the Nazis, and not with the Communists. This Jewish family certainly tried. They fought in World War I, the family gave up its Jewish name, one of them married a Catholic and converted to Catholicism, etc. But nothing was ever enough, and anti-Semitism led to tragedy after tragedy. The film ends while the Communists control Hungary. The youngest member of the family naively had worked for the Communists but became disillusioned. He reclaims the family's Jewish name and walks away from politics and the public realm altogether. We know that he sees the socio-political situation much more clearly than did his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He knows that he has a choice: endorse official anti-Semitism (and even then risk being accused of conspiring with Zionists) or be a Jew and take the diminished stature in Hungarian society that comes with it. There is no middle way -- the family's multigenerational drive to accomodate Judaism with financial and political success has failed.

This film has a sweep like few others today. It spans generations, tackles big historical events, and wrestles with serious themes. It is well worth seeing if you like serious cinema. Highly recommended.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very subjective and gripping look back on the 20th century, February 12, 2000

By A Customer

Having lived roughly half of the period covered by Szabó in his latest film at the location of the film, Hungary, I found his film very, very touching. He shows us the lives of three generations of Hungarian Jews - how the first Sonnenschein changes his name to sound Hungarian to get a position as a high ranking judge, how the second leaves his ancestors' religion to be accepted by the military officers' fencing club, how the third becomes a member of the political police in the 1950s to take revenge for killing much of his family during the war, only to find that, as a Jew, he is not wanted by that establishment, either. The film is a very pessimistic, dark, but, I am afraid, truthful account of that cruel century, the 20th.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of us, August 12, 2000

By	pm4565w (Escondido, CA United States) - See all my reviews

My great grandfather was one of the biggest rabbis in Liady, Byelorussia. My grandfather was a loyal salesman during Bolshevik sunrise. My mother was married first time to NKVD officer. My father was a professor of Soviet and European literature. He was exiled in 1949 during Stalinism for being "cosmopolitan" and a Jew, and spent 15 years in Komi Republic. In 1977, I was detained at Moscow synagogue for being "pro-zionist". I was "in refuse" and later I left for the United States.

The movie "Sunshine" is not about any specific Jewish family or Jewish story. It is about all of us, Jews and non-Jews. We all are seeking acceptance and security, at least most of us. Jewish theme is just a catalyst of this chemical reaction called "a human saga", I almost wrote "a human tragedy". All main male personages loyal to their escapists believes no mater what historic decorations they are involved in - imperia, communist republic, fascist dictatorship, again communist dictatorship. They try to assimilate and to be like a simple guy from across the street. However, there is no way to escape from ourselves, we are what we are - we want it or not. Istvan Szabo is a precise artist. He is meticulous in his accents, he is accurate in selecting the color palette, and he is "alive" in depicting his beloved characters. Szabo continues the tune of such great artist like Saul Below, Isaak Singer, Sholom Ash, and Sholom Aleichem. In the movie he makes one step further and widen the scope of humanistic realism started with his awards winning "Mefisto". If in "Mefisto" he leaves to us "judgment and sentencing" of the hero, this time Szabo makes one step further. Dieing great uncle of the hero, loyal communist who spent all his life trying to reach "justice for all" - communist version of Paradise with a simple wicked formula - Communism equal to Paradise minus G-d, asks the love of his life: "What that miserable life was about?" This question is the sentence. However, the movie is not about Szabo's disgust with fascists, communists or "simple common anti-Semites". It is about us. Despite the fact that the movie carries all necessary "Hollywood elements", it never dives below 5 star level of cinematography. It should be seen.