When I was in college, my film class buddies and I would sometimes joke about creating a film festival called The Very Foreign, Foreign Film Series, dedicated to the most impenetrable of foreign films. I think Miklos Jancso's Agnus Dei could have played opening night.
There are some who will try to bluff their way through a review of a movie they did not understand. I am not one of those.
I have admired some of Miklos Jancso's other films. I especially liked The Round-Up. I know that Jancso finds much inspiration for his film from Hungary's past, a past about which I know very little. I also know that Jancso is known for long takes with moving cameras. Some of these shots can be breathtaking. There are such shots in Agnus Dei as well. I was carried along by the film's motion for about the first half, but then I became increasingly restless and confused.
The first Miklos Jancso film I ever watched was The Red and The White. I remember being slightly confused about which side was which and about the way both sides committed nasty acts. Agnus Dei is somewhat similar. The film is set in 1919 during a leftist rebellion against landowners. What I got out of watching it is, that unlike The Red Army in the previous film, the leftists here were trying to fight honorably, but were doomed to lose because the other side was completely ruthless.
Take for instance the priest character. He is on the side of the landowners and also seems somewhat mad. He is captured by the leftists, but then let go. This turns out to be a big mistake because the priest is not as merciful as the leftists. All of that I understood, while wondering if there was more to all of this than I was getting. However, the final third becomes frustratingly vague.
There is young man with a violin who appears about halfway. Whose side is he on? I don't know. He seems to be for and against both sides. The film climaxes with this giant bonfire that might be intended as symbolic. Then, there is a final twist of the knife involving that young man with the violin that just had me scratching my head. Agnus Dei is certainly not a viewer friendly film.
On the other hand, Miklos Jancso can shoot a nice-looking tracking shot. There are some good ones here.
