Brownie points to MUBI for selecting The Round Up as their film of the day. I remember seeing this when it came out, in 1966, at one of the Academy cinemas in Oxford St - at the time one of the only places you could see less mainstream films. I probably went as a result of reading a review by Dilys Powell in the Sunday paper - I think I may even still have the review somewhere in a box in the loft, as the film made a great impression on me. I guess, at the time, it was something completely different - and it still packs a punch - somewhere in Hungary the army is trying to track down outlaws (opposition resistance leaders) and so rounds up all the local men (shepherds mainly), keeps them in a specially constructed prison in the middle of a huge plain and uses all sorts of psychological methods to identify the outlaws from the innocent shepherds - it's all very still and quiet and alien and strangely disturbing - but shot in such stunning black and white (the blacks are really black and the whites and really white) that it is just beautiful to watch. Lovely to see it again (for the first time since 1966) though I note you can get it these days on DVD. Thoroughly recommended. Trying to remember other films I saw around the same time that I was similarly affected by - Closely Observed Trains possibly, and Juliet of the Spirits and, well I'm sure others will come to mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment