"The red and the white" is situated in the time of the Russian civil war after the Communist revolution of 1917.
In "The red and the white" Miklos Jancso portrays this war however much less romantic than David Lean did in "Dr Zhivago" (1965). We see relatively little fighting and many executions. In a war there are no winners.
The film reminded me very much of the Dutch novel "The house of refuge" from the famous Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans. In this novel a house is situated on the border between two fighting armies. Sometimes it is occupied by one armie and a little later the other armie takes over. So the inhabitants of the house must know very precisely of which armie they have to talk kindly.
In "The red and the white" the role of the house is played by a field hospital. This hospital takes care of the wounded from both armies. Contrary to the inhabitants of the house they however refuse to take (alternating) sides. The have no soldiers form the red or the white, they have patients. The nurses pay dearly for this brave behaviour.
This is characteristic of a general tendency in Jancso movies: men play tough games, women pay the price. Another characteristic is the use of nudity. It is seldom erotic. In this film it is rather used as a means of humiliation.
In "The red and the white" Miklos Jancso portrays this war however much less romantic than David Lean did in "Dr Zhivago" (1965). We see relatively little fighting and many executions. In a war there are no winners.
The film reminded me very much of the Dutch novel "The house of refuge" from the famous Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans. In this novel a house is situated on the border between two fighting armies. Sometimes it is occupied by one armie and a little later the other armie takes over. So the inhabitants of the house must know very precisely of which armie they have to talk kindly.
In "The red and the white" the role of the house is played by a field hospital. This hospital takes care of the wounded from both armies. Contrary to the inhabitants of the house they however refuse to take (alternating) sides. The have no soldiers form the red or the white, they have patients. The nurses pay dearly for this brave behaviour.
This is characteristic of a general tendency in Jancso movies: men play tough games, women pay the price. Another characteristic is the use of nudity. It is seldom erotic. In this film it is rather used as a means of humiliation.