The Red and the White (Csillagosok, Katonak) (1967)

This film apparently took some guts to make. A film set during the Russian Civil War, made at the height of Soviet power, that basically depicts both sides of the conflict as ruthless, bloodthirsty, brutal, and senseless, had to have pissed off a lot of powerful people in…

Sally Jane Black

I can't believe this film got past Soviet censorship

Redux

Difficult to connect with emotionally as it’s not a conventional narrative and has no protagonist, which I’m beginning to see is usually the case with Miklós Jancsó films. Beautiful photography that gives you a lot to chew on but isn’t the most engrossing anti-war film I’ve…

Iamblakeman

One of the few truly anti-war pictures. Jancso's masterful direction keeps you enthralled. The Red and the White paints war as utter chaos.It is a nihilistic, bleak and violent picture. The movie is very political driven to show that war is meaningless and can sometimes…

Sudhakar Kumar

Set during the Russian Civil War and concentrated on an area defined by hills and dense woodland overlooking the Volga river, The Red and the White explores the mechanisms of power conceptually as its characters serve political statuses with no individual agency. Written…

Paul Elliott

War as a theatrical hellscape with ideology serving as just a motor for the violent tableaux.

Filipe Furtado

80/100 Second viewing, last seen 2006. Emblematic moment occurs just a dozen or so minutes in, when the officer with the Fu Manchu mustache who appears to be a potential protagonist suddenly stops dead while facing the camera, throws his rifle aside, starts to disrobe,…

Mike D'Angelo

Deadliest game of shirts versus skins ever.

Michael Strenski

War is an invitation to disorder, to catastrophe, to confusion. Csillagosok, katonák is a flawless statement on the futility of war and how it becomes a destructive force that can overcome the ideals of any military or idealistic side. Through dreamlike sequences, Miklós…

Edgar Cochran ✝️🍋