This type of story has been done before. Hungarian Jews are being persecuted during earlier times. The fact that it is a Hungarian production kept me watching because I was unsure what was going to happen, unlike most conventional studio product. An unintentional byproduct of the film was that I was amazed by how many rituals some religions have and it makes one wonder why people put up with it. One thing is for certain that the film doesn't make me long for the old days. Absorbing film but for one viewing only.
6 Reviews
Anti-Semitism in Middle Europe at the turn of the last century
skinnybert17 May 2016
Difficult to find these days, but an award-winner in its time. I first saw MEMORIES OF A RIVER from mid-film on TV & found its court drama absorbing enough to want to see the whole film from the beginning. When I did, I found the first half rather in need of more editing, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the second half.
It's not surprising that the one reviewer here from Hungary itself would find the film wanting for balance; I have yet to see a Jewish-life-in-middle-Europe film that pleased the non-Jewish peoples of those areas -- just ask Poles about WW2 & Auschwitz. If the details are biased (or even wrong) the film still convincingly creates a feeling of being tried as an outsider in a small village.
It's not surprising that the one reviewer here from Hungary itself would find the film wanting for balance; I have yet to see a Jewish-life-in-middle-Europe film that pleased the non-Jewish peoples of those areas -- just ask Poles about WW2 & Auschwitz. If the details are biased (or even wrong) the film still convincingly creates a feeling of being tried as an outsider in a small village.
Compelling story and setting
lynnsaul1 May 2008
This film shows a powerful story of Jews in the part of Hungary my ancestors are from--the subcarpathian Tisza River area. The scenery is beautiful and the story told is true. It defeats stereotypes of what life was like for European Jews and shows a variety of reactions to the difficulties they faced with compelling characters whose acting is so good you forget you are watching a film. Another comment shows annoyance with ritual; I found the portrayal of traditional Jewish rituals as part of the characters' everyday lives extremely meaningful in the dramatic development of the story--and authentic. This film does not seem to be available any longer for purchase--a shame.
Excellent, hauntingly beautiful movie
dbenrechab2 April 2004
I was fortunate to have seen the English version, with subtitles,"Memoirs of a River." The plot of this beautiful, haunting work is based upon an actual incident in 1880 and takes place within the Austro-Hungarian Empire near the Carpatho-Russian region. The story is interesting but the art of the movie expresses, through film as well as melodies the simple, but profound spirituality of a people and time that are no more. This rare piece of cinema is an example of the fragility and the rare peaks of European cinema unknown to most people; this profound movie evokes spiritual sensibilities reminiscent of Werner Herzog's latest and greatest masterpiece,"Invincible" or the 1972 Russian classic,"Solaris."
Lie, lie, lie...
juhasz-david19932 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The movie is based on true story and plays in Hungary, 1882. The 14- year-old maid Eszter Solymosi disappeared during a Jewish feast. Some local Jews are accused with the ritual murder of her.
Months later a corpse of a young girl appears in the nearly river, which is found and buried also by raftsmen. The film tells us mainly the story of them: the investigators say that it's not the body of Eszter, and they helped for the Jewish community (for money) to confirm their innocence with the body of an other woman (who smothered and wasn't killed). In addition the defense tries to prove that the raftsmen (and people who witnessed against the Jews) were terrified and even beaten by the investigation department.
The portrayal is not too complex, just as we excepted. This film prefers the side of the defense and the Jews - we can see them as innocent, unhurting people bullied by the envious, anti-Semite investigators. The reason of this is that the movie was significant influenced by the novel of Károly Eötvös (defense attorney), in which he states a lot of lies (inverstigator Bary disproves those later in his own book) and half-truths about Eszter's strange disappearing and the investigation.
However, we could be almost sure that the corpse in the river didn't belong to Eszter. For example, her mother (and other relatives and local Hungarian people who knew the girl) did not identify the body as Eszter's. The medical examiner said that at the time of the finding of the body it had been in the water since 3-4 days, and the age of her had been around 20. We know these facts unfortunately not from this movie, but from the book Bary. Only the disagreement of the mother appears - with a negative tone.
What else could be said? It was made by a book full with sophistications, so it only could be enjoyed by those who don't know the whole story so much or believe in everything which Eötvös claims.
Months later a corpse of a young girl appears in the nearly river, which is found and buried also by raftsmen. The film tells us mainly the story of them: the investigators say that it's not the body of Eszter, and they helped for the Jewish community (for money) to confirm their innocence with the body of an other woman (who smothered and wasn't killed). In addition the defense tries to prove that the raftsmen (and people who witnessed against the Jews) were terrified and even beaten by the investigation department.
The portrayal is not too complex, just as we excepted. This film prefers the side of the defense and the Jews - we can see them as innocent, unhurting people bullied by the envious, anti-Semite investigators. The reason of this is that the movie was significant influenced by the novel of Károly Eötvös (defense attorney), in which he states a lot of lies (inverstigator Bary disproves those later in his own book) and half-truths about Eszter's strange disappearing and the investigation.
However, we could be almost sure that the corpse in the river didn't belong to Eszter. For example, her mother (and other relatives and local Hungarian people who knew the girl) did not identify the body as Eszter's. The medical examiner said that at the time of the finding of the body it had been in the water since 3-4 days, and the age of her had been around 20. We know these facts unfortunately not from this movie, but from the book Bary. Only the disagreement of the mother appears - with a negative tone.
What else could be said? It was made by a book full with sophistications, so it only could be enjoyed by those who don't know the whole story so much or believe in everything which Eötvös claims.
The director is a sadist!
jkrqoj28 April 2010
For the purposes of the film 14 sheep were spread with flammable substance, and then to the order by Judit Elek were burned alive!
I don't care if it is a good film, or it is not and whether she has talent. She should spend the rest of her life in jail, and all her films should be banned. It is not all right to make money while harming innocent creatures and still to call it art. I don't understand how anybody agreed to work with that psychopath. Some time ago, 69 scientists from the Jagiellonian University demanded from authorities of forbidding Judit Elek entry to Poland. Scientists wrote among others: "No director knowing her own worth would debase herself for using so primitive and cruel methods". But of course it failed, she arrived and she got an award for her other film.
I don't care if it is a good film, or it is not and whether she has talent. She should spend the rest of her life in jail, and all her films should be banned. It is not all right to make money while harming innocent creatures and still to call it art. I don't understand how anybody agreed to work with that psychopath. Some time ago, 69 scientists from the Jagiellonian University demanded from authorities of forbidding Judit Elek entry to Poland. Scientists wrote among others: "No director knowing her own worth would debase herself for using so primitive and cruel methods". But of course it failed, she arrived and she got an award for her other film.
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