The historical drama Sunshine (A napfény ize ) was a large scale international production featuring such distinguished non-Hungarian actors as Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weiss, and William Hurt. Szabo was back in top form and clearly aiming to break out of the strictures of the Hungarian film world to hit the international market. At a running time of 3 hours this was an epic in every sense. Ralph Fiennes delivers three incredible performances as the grandfather, father and son of an influential Jewish family, and was particularly outstanding playing the Hungarian Olympic fencer, a Jew who converts to Christianity for personal convenience. A tripartite tour de force. Szabo must be given extra credit for turning foreign actors into believable Hungarians. Not an easy task.
Mr. Fiennes was on a roll throughout the decade of the nineties with such landmark films as Schindler's List (1993) and The English Patient (1996) to his credit.
Sunshine follows a Jewish family whose original Surname is "Sonnenschein" (Sunshine, later changed to "Sors"which means Fate in Hungarian) through three generations. Rising from humble beginnings to a position of wealth and power in the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire the patriarch of the clan becomes a prominent judge but is deposed when the government sanctions anti-Jewish persecutions. His son converts to Christianity to advance his career as a champion fencer and Olympic hero, but is caught up in the Holocaust. Finally, the grandson, after surviving war, revolution, loss and betrayal, realizes that his ultimate allegiance must be to himself and his family heritage.
Sunshine premiered at the 1999 Toronto film festival where it picked up numerous Canadian Genie Awards and then circulated successfully in the States but for some reason, perhaps the multiple nationality of the production making it hard to place, was not entered in the Oscar competition for Best Foreign Film.
