Red Psalm (1972)

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Red Psalm (1972) – M. Jancsó

Miklós Jancsó’s Red Psalm is a psalm, or hymn, to socialism, featuring song and dance in a Hungarian meadow. Jancsó uses long takes with choreographed comrades in peasant dress (or nude) and a wandering minstrel on guitar.  They are opposed by the military and by the church – and of course by the oppressive land-holding classes.  The Internationale is often sung.  Socialists die in their conflicts but they also win over and sometimes kill the opposition.  All of this is staged theatrically in the meadow.  There is no plot but only the message (although apparently this is based on a real peasant revolt in the 1890s).  At times, there are hundreds of actors.  The shots are incredibly long and the camera moves from group to group, high and low, weaving between people and the many horses that are ridden amongst them; any mistake would have meant starting all over again.  The film is often beautiful, including a shot of a burning church and another of a stream running red with blood.  Indeed, there is much symbolism, highlighted by red ribbons…and blood. Solidarity is strong and compelling here in 1972 – the only sad and sombre note is that their optimism (underscored by an awareness of the difficulty of the struggle) has not been realized more than 40 years later. Instead, things appear to have gotten worse not better for the cause. Viva la revolution!