Vera Angi
Angi Vera (1978)
Pál Gábor
© István Jávor
The movie takes place in 1948, the year of the Communist takeover. Vera Angi (Vera Pap) is an employee of a hospital. She complains to her superiors about the unsanitary conditions in the hospital. As her proletarian back ground fits in nicely with the new doctrine of the communist regime, she is sent to a six-month education course. Pál Gábor’s masterpiece about the nature of the dictatorship and conformation won about forty prizes worldwide.
Awards and selections: 1979 – Cannes Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize 1979 – San Sebastian Film Festival – Silver Shell for Best Direction 1979 – Chicago Film Festival – Golden Hugo; Golden Plaque for the Best Actress – Vera Pap 1979 – Rome Film Festival – ‘David di Donatello’ for Best Actress – Vera Pap, Best Producer – József Marx
Directed by: Pál Gábor Written by: Endre Vészi (novel) Screenplay by: Pál Gábor, Endre Vészi Director of photography: Lajos Koltai Music by: György Selmeczi Cast: Vera Pap, Erzsi Pásztor, Éva Szabó, Tamás Dunai Genre: historical drama Production: Objektiv Studio Technical specs: colour, 93 min Format: 1.85:1, 4K restored, grading supervised by Lajos Koltai, DOP, HSC
“Quite simply, Vera’s training tells you more about present moods and even politics in a Socialist country like Hungary than all the verbiage accompanying State visits or Government missions ever produces. It is also an exceptionally human story, filled with wry human story, filled with wry moments, even highly comic ones. But ultimately and memorably it succeeds as a terrifying documentation of an era in Communism that’s far from vanished.” (Evening Standard, London, by Alexander Walker, 29 March 1979)
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