Red Psalm (Még kér a nép)

Red Psalm, which won director Miklos Jancso the Best Director Prize at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, is an astonishing film in which Jancso’s technical and conceptual virtuosity are at their peak. Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike only to face increasingly harsh reprisals for their actions. The film examines the nature of revolt, and the issues of oppression, morality and violence. Shot using just 28 amazingly choreographed long takes, Red Psalm is a virtuoso exercise of form and content and a formidable work of art.