davikubrick Tarr has shown to be a quite talented director, just see "Werckmeister Harmonies" and you'll know why, he is famous for using extremely long shots, and with this film it's the apex of what his cinema has to offer: very long shots, beautiful landscapes, deep sadness and human's evilness. But unfortunately, "Sátántangó" had pretty much everything to be the so called masterpiece, but the film's idea is greater than the film itself, which is a shame. The film is build up like this: the characters by little start to connect with each other. It has many histories but the central one involves the comeback of a man who will try to create a better society using the money of the residents of the community. It's interesting what Tarr tries to do here and the concept is great, but the way Tarr made the film ended up making this a film that sometimes fells too short, other incredibly long. There are amazing things about this film which make it at least worth watching, for example the breathtaking cinematography and the incredible soundtrack (which sometimes are used with mastery by Tarr making some scenes that you can almost feel that you are in that place with those characters, but not most of the time), and some of the "sub stories" are very interesting both in concept and the way it's developed, but this is just a little bit of the film. In the beginning it doesn't sound exaggerated his use of long shots, but for a film that is seven hours long, soon or late the film will get boring, and when it does it becomes almost impossible to still watch it. One could say that he uses long shots so the viewer can pretty much "feel" that he is on that place with that people, it works sometimes but not most of the time. The characters come and go (most come back) but Tarr does not let the public to create empathy with pretty much all of them. The main problem of this film is not only that it has long (very long) length, but Tarr fools the audience with smart monologues, the beautiful landscape and the soundtrack, but when actually on the ground there is nothing too much complex about it. Tarr tries to point how community (not just from the film but in general) is corrupted and how people are evil, but besides the film's beautiful long shots, there is nothing too original about the film. You can admire Tarr for beautiful and heartbreaking moments he creates such as the Estike part (might be Tarr's greatest and most moving moment) and others you can despise him for using extremely long shots that after sometime starts to sound annoying and pretentious. And the same happens with most of the characters: in the beginning, you get that they are real human beings with a evil side just like everyone, but then after some hours that they start to get superficial and implausible, they start to sound only like human beings with no "good" side and only moved by greed and alcohol (I also wonder if one of the reasons why Tarr chosen to make this a seven hour film is that when the film shows some problem you won't notice that because or he is fooling the audience with the film's beautiful landscape or the viewer is already too much tired to notice any problem). Even thought Sátántangó can be the apex of Tarr's self indulgence it also can be a good exploration of how a community work, it is a haunting film, filled with great cinematography and some memorable dialogues and moments, and he does have a message to tell and sometimes he is able to tell it in a very good way, but his pretentiousness and distance won't help much, therefore, it is a film you can admire for wanting to say something "new" with a original touch by Tarr but himself does not allows the audience to admire it for other reasons that are emotionally related. A film that disguises itself as a film that has a lot to tell when actually it's ambition does not let it go too much far, a film filled with exaggerations (and I'm not just saying that only because of the time of the film but also because some "sub stories" does not sound necessary to the plot and it's not interesting to watch, and even if there is a message there, the boredom won't let see)

MagyarRose Satan's Tango: You can tell from the first 10 minute enormous tracking shot following cattle meandering in the rain through a devastated, crumbling, seemingly deserted village, that it was going to be THAT kind of film.This is Hungary after the withdrawal of the Soviet occupation of 40 years, and we are at a collective farm on the Hungarian great plain that has collapsed along with Communism.Surreal, mesmerizing, sinister it challenges the mindful viewer to look closely, and listen, rather read closely, except I was lucky to do both. This film is for more mature audiences. I would compare it to plunging into Shakespeare drama that is really hard to follow at first, but pulls you on regardless, even if you are not getting everything, with a big payload.I could not believe I was watching it from when I got home from work till after midnight. One main theme that stuck out for me was how developing a public persona, and the art of speech can be so powerful. The enigmatic central figure, Irimiás, is an epitome of this. Good looking, tall, educated, and with a golden tongue, he sure has a Satanic allure for whom the disparaged, uneducated villagers dance the tango.There are some really funny parts too, the old doc watching and writing everything down in an alcoholic haze, then especially when the two officers rewrite Irimiás' letter and how they describe the villagers. The scene with the little girl and her cat is a heart stopper. I did not get everything to a T and want to read more about this, and want to watch it again.

snidgeskin Warfarin isn't this quick.Seriously though...superb, frustrating, rich, imaginative, absorbing, annoying, aggravating, repulsive.If you've got a couple of minutes spare watch it! It's a great big Hungarian soap (sorry this doesn't give it justice, I'm being superficial).I adored those looooooonnngg takes; the outstanding cinematography.Don't watch it if you hate the rain. Oh and try not miss the hour long torture scene....involving no one but a drunken Doctor! (Plus Cat lovers beware...I only just manged to get through that part!).

norman-42-843758 I am giving this film high points, not as some have suggested because I want to be in with the in crowd but because I really enjoyed it and even after a month of seeing it I am still thinking of the significance of various parts.In my view, the reason the film is so long is because Bela Tarr wanted the viewer to be the characters, to feel what it is like to live their lives, squalor and all and not simply be a voyeur to the unfolding of the storyline as in other conventional films. The reason I don't in this case have a problem to give spoilers is that the Police Captain's speech when Irimias and Petrina are summoned before him is the heart of the matter for most of what follows. It is listed above in the Memorable Quotes section but so you don't have to go looking for it I will C&P it here."Captain: Not that human life was so highly valued. Keeping order appears to be the business of the authorities, but in fact it's the business of all. Order. Freedom, however, has nothing human. It's something divine, something... our lives are too short for us to know properly. If you're looking for a link, think of Pericles, order and freedom are linked by passion. We have to believe in both, we suffer from both. Both from order and freedom. But human life is meaningful, rich, beautiful and filthy. It links everything. It mistreats freedom only... wasting it, as if it was junk. People don't like freedom, they are afraid of it. The strange thing is there is nothing to fear about freedom... order, on the other hand, can often be frightening." This is so profound that most of the important themes in the film flow from this short speech. Probably the most important one is the observation (paraphrased) that people like the concept of freedom but they don't actually like to be free. It is usual to hear that people who, to one degree or another, live under oppression want to throw off the yoke of whatever system it happens to be but when they actually have their freedom they don't know what to do with it. In the film there is much talk about clearing off with the money from the sale of the farm, either fairly or unfairly divided and living lives of their own making. What follows is that Irimias appoints himself as the group's leader and everybody falls in line thus voluntarily placing themselves in a hierarchy.The other major theme from the Captain's speech is this. "But human life…..links everything". Every living thing is connected to every other living thing. Do you remember the voice over following the little girl's death? It talked of this connection existing between her mother; her brother who cheated her out of her savings; the cat the doctor and herself and she knew that after she was dead her angels would protect her. We then move forward towards the end of the drunken scene where we are presented with the analogy of the spider weaving a web over all of the drunken people. If a single strand in the web moves then the spider knows. In real life this could be a look backwards to the operating methods of the KGB. Also forwards to such things as the Patriot Act which legalised wire tapping and social networks like Facebook which was conceived by the CIA to farm information about individuals which could not be found in any other way.If someone has control over another living thing then they use that power without remorse. Examples of this are the little girl and the cat; Irimias and the group and the police captain and Irimias. Compare this in real life to what happened in the Stanford prison experiment.Without self discipline and left to their own devices people will become immoral. Examples of this are Irimias representing some unwholesome elitist class; the Schmidts planning to abscond with the money; The little girls brother stealing her savings; Mrs Schmidt with Futaki; the little girl's mother, no different to the cattle in the farmyard. The Police captain using Irimias for spying; the police gathering apparently useless information; the doctor's spying.We should be on our guard to beware of false prophets of hope. In the film this was represented by Irimias and Petrina. When the silver tongued Irimias gave his speech he moved seamlessly from "This event is tragic beyond all comprehension" to "You can achieve a better life by giving me your money". In everyday life I would include most off planet redemption religions together with our political leaders who by and large represent themselves first, lobbyists second and for the represented they do just enough to get re-elected.Beware of false prophets of doom. The man banging on the pipe in the ruined church shouting "The Turks are coming" when there were quite clearly no Turks in any direction.My interpretation of the incredibly sad final scene is that if this is the way we choose to group as a society, sandwiched between false prophets of hope and false prophets of doom and without any self discipline then there is no light at the end of the tunnel. if people had self discipline combined with freedom and self order, as the police Captain suggests, there would be no need for authority but since they don't they are confused between these false prophets of hope and false prophets of doom, therefore all attempts to continue as a workable society are ultimately bound to fail.