All language subtitles for Angi Vera (Pál Gábor, 1979)

…those three decades when
oppression and disunity…

paralysed the workers' struggle
for freedom.

We will accomplish the revolutionary
union of the working classes.

This year. 1948. is a milestone in
Hungarian labour movement history.

Since the Unification
Congress in summer

there is only one Hungarian
working class party.

The road is now straighter.

We revolutionaries will rapidly overcome
difficulties and accomplish our tasks.

We aspire to serve humbly
our people and nation.

I won't speak; they can call on
those sitting in front.

I'll sink down in my seat.

Why does he keep saying
"we revolutionaries"?

We have become a
people's democracy.

We have set out on the road to
the building of socialism.

The Hungarian nation has
once again made a conquest.

Alongside the peace-loving nations
we must stand wholly united.

In the great international peace
offensive of the nations.

In this way, we revolutionaries

can ensure peace, national
independence, freedom,

and the undisturbed building
of a happier future.

Let us now hear your
views, comrades.

Speak up.

I would like to say…

Things aren't going too well
in our ward.

When I take a patient out
to wash him…

I can't put him in a bath
which is thick with dirt.

Sometimes we only rinse the
hypodermic needles in hot water.

You should check how many patients
have died of infection.

I will say it…

no matter what happens.

The management hasn't
the slightest respect for us.

We are just servants.

The director is a god reigning
over the workers.

Who's that?

An assistant nurse;
she was a cleaner.

Where is this new world?
Everything is the same as it was.

Why have you stopped?
Please go on.

All the doctors hold out their hand,
with only one interest: the tip.

They stretch out their palm before
they'll touch a poor patient.

And there are still private wards
for those who can pay.

I hear you were good enough to
mention me at the Party meeting.

Well,
I have indeed a strange manner.

It could be called gentlemanly,
but not anti-democratic.

I know every staff member and I
concern myself with their problems.

Do you remember, my girl…

that you and your
mother sheltered here

and were given work and food
with my permission?

My mother died.

We did our best
during the fighting…

Yes, in those conditions.

You've been here for three years…

and I was sure you enjoyed
being with us.

We even put you down for
nursing training.

So your career…

Nevertheless, the rotten things
here turn the stomach.

Do you know what you are saying?

But do go on making accusations.

Now get out of here, girl.

Didn't you hear what I said?

Reactionary forces are keeping
the director in his position

stressing his qualifications
and his democratic background.

Those arguments will lose weight;
but that's just between you and me.

Tell me about yourself.

I'm eighteen.

My father was missing at
the front, presumed killed.

We've found no trace
of him anywhere.

"Her father was a warehouseman,
her mother a proletarian

a maid to an old regime
army officer's family."

"She and her daughter took refuge
in the hospital."

"During the fighting they acted
as cleaners and carried corpses."

"Doing which the mather was hit
by a shell splinter."

"She died before being operated on.
The girl stayed in the hospital."

We know a lot about you, you see.

I'm glad you came to see us.

I can't go back to
the hospital again.

I told off the hospital Party
secretary for concealing from us…

an intelligent, brave girl

at a time when we need
all the new blood we can get.

We'll take care of your life
from now on.

Tell us about yourself, comrade.

Don't be shy.

How did you enter the movement?

What Party work have you done?

Could you assess
your class position?

What are your academic
qualifications?

Sit down, comrade.

Don't be nervous.

I can't answer anything.

I've never been to school,
there was no one to teach me.

I always had work to do.

Now the Party will teach you.

We all have your
interest at heart.

After the course, none of us
will go back to our old jobs.

What do you mean?

We'll be promoted, we'll all
get better jobs.

They're lovely.

How will my husband cope with them
for three months?

I'm a textile worker; they'll
never make a prime minister of me.

You never know; you'll be placed where
you're most needed, Mrs. Mikus.

- I forget your first name.
- Teréz.

- Where are you from?
- Szolnok county.

I was there a lot in 1945.

Why are you moping all alone?

We'll get on all right, won't we?

I'm Mária Muskát

So, a better job.

Maybe I loved you too much.
but now my love has flown…

Comrades!

Don't behave like bourgeois women
at the Turkish baths.

How old are you? Your breasts
are like little girl's.

Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?

Don't say a pretty breast is
a survival of capitalism…

historically outlived!

I took you for a serious person,
Mária Muskát.

You suffered enough in the past,
didn't you?

So I'm cheerful now.

I must say I'm
disappointed in you.

Self-righteous old maid.

She's the petty-bourgeois one.

Should we be ashamed of being
female nowadays?

Do you know her?

Who doesn't? Anna Tárjan,
works on the newspaper.

They say she'll be made
editor-in-chief after the course.

Because of her past…
always the past.

Please remain seated.

My name is István André.
I'm your study group leader.

After the lectures,
we'll discuss them here in detail.

Now let's get acquainted. We'll
start with the list of names.

You're Vera Angi?

Yes, me.

Sing a song aboutour land.

there is no land more beautiful.

Our land is the land of peace.

Its citizens are happy people.

What's happened?

I have a sad thing
to report to you.

You have been here only a week…

and one of your fellows has
been absent without leave.

He shrunk from the task.

During the war we called this
desertion…

and since the class struggle is a
fight of world proportions.

I would like your fellow-student
to explain his action.

We can assure the mine Party
secretary…

that if József Neubauer frankly
confesses his mistakes…

we as a collective are ready
to accept him back.

I admit I caught a train back
to my wife and children.

It's very hard for me to learn.

And all those foreign words.

We have to write a lot, too.

I accept that I was wrong.

But I promise I'll try again,
even if it kills me.

Because it's my duty now.

I must not shrink from the task,
not me.

I've stood my ground
in harder times.

I'll study together with
my miner comrade…

go through his notes and do
all in my power to help him.

How do you know that's exactly
the right thing to do?

We miners must stick together.
We, too, will help him.

Quiet, please.

We accept the offers of help and
József Neubauer's self-criticism.

Let this case be a serious lesson
to us all.

Mid-way through, there'll be a day
of criticism and self-criticism.

We'll report on what we've achieved
and what we must still achieve.

You will speak about each other
and yourselves.

This course has many eyes
and many ears.

I wouldn't like…

anyone to be ashamed to look
his fellows in the eyes then.

Somogyi, that tall boy from
the chemical works…

tells me: "I like
watching you move."

"You like watching my bottom,
not how I move", I said to him.

Yesterday, after supper, one of
the boys, I'll name no names…

We know, anyway.

…says to me: "Come on, let's
run off the wood opposite."

In this weather!

Believe it or not, I was a virgin
when I married.

Course-leader Sas is strong on theory,
but I bet he's weak in practice!

Comrade Trajan.

You've such a lovely name.

You find it lovely?

It's so nice to say.

You think so?

It was my name in the movement.

I got it from someone who was
my teacher. My ideal.

He was executed.

Oh, yes, the name.

It was our life, our security.

It was how we defended ourselves
against informers.

Even our contacts only knew
our cover names.

How many things we gave up…

sometimes even breaking
with our families.

We had no private life.

Was love forbidden, too?

Love?

Tell us about the man who
gave your name.

You can't imagine what cheerful,
passionate man he was.

He was all tenderness,
understanding.

He and his wife didn't get along.

He loved another.

On the day he was caught,
we spent the morning together.

We went to see a
film, at the Palace.

We saw Boys' Town.

I'll tell you something from last
Sunday, not the past.

When you rushed out of here.

Well, my fiancé Feri,
Ferenc, that is…

we're both foremen in
the same factory.

He arrived on the midday train,
we took a room by the station.

He just signed us in
as husband and wife.

We didn't set foot outside
till evening.

Let's hear all the details!

He's powerful, handsome lad,
and we were both longing for it.

You don't need details,
you've all had it.

Shall I bring you
water or something?

No, there's nothing the matter.

You're a nice girl.

But I'm not going to spend
another day with these others.

Please, comrade, I'd like to
ask you something.

Go ahead; what is it about?

I'd like to ask…

No, I can't speak about it yet.

I explained to old Sas that
we different from nuns…

in that we're not hypocrites.

Because he wanted to stop me
going out on Sundays!

You should have seen him blink
behind his specs.

I've cycled more kilometres for the
Party than he's had hot dinners.

In 1945 I pedalled over a hundred
kilometers, on land reallocation.

I lived like a man,
slept in my clothes…

I put up with all the hostility…

but it was the best
time of my life.

No owl-eyed runt's going to dictate
to me, even if he is course-leader.

How dare you talk of Comrade Sas
like that?

Interfering again, are you?

What are you sucking up to the
leaders for? What sort are you?

What do you want?

Intergrity is what I want.

You want to get intergrity like
this? Oh, come on, you ninny!

But on the subject of intergrity…

you were very helpful to Trajan
when she moved to another room.

Did she tell you that she informed
on me to Comrade Sas?

Why ask me? Why are you
getting at me?

What have I done against you?

Who else, then?

Listen, Mária, you may be right…

but leave this girl alone.

Why must you knock the leadership?

What's Vera done to you?

We all respect Comrade Sas.

We're here to study,
not enjoy ourselves.

Stop it, all of you!

Are you putting on an act?

- What's the matter?
- Nothing, really.

I can't read your writing.

You've left out lots of
important things.

- Let's start again.
- All right, read it out.

The monopoly which has developed
in certain industries…

intensifies the confusion
which has developed…

in certain industries.

It increases and intensifies…

the chaos which characterizes
capitalist production.

The ratio between…

Comrade, could we go out
canvassing together?

Why don't you answer me?

Have I offended you?

Shouldn't I have asked?

What?

I'd like to go canvassing
with you, for the election.

I'm going with someone
else, sorry.

Shall I go on reading?

Yes, go on.

There will be an ever-greater
disproportion…

in capitalism's industrial and
agricultural development.

The privileged position…

is achieved by the biggest firms…

organized into cartels.

János Kovacsics, copper-turner;
a fine comrade.

See which flat it is.

Number three, first floor.

See if he's in.

They seem to be out.

You want Kovacsics?

His wife should be home
at any moment.

She's usually at home.

We'll wait.

Come in, then; it'll be warmer.

I work in the iron-foundry.

I'm a coremaker.

I'm on sick-leave at the moment,
to put it officially.

The truth is, they want to
push me up.

It started when I was expelled after
the unification of the parties.

Where are you from?

My husband and your neighbour
were old friends.

I thought I'd call, as I was
passing through.

This is my young cousin.

I was a Social-Democrat,
I joined in 1938.

What's the accusation against you?

The accusation, madam?

The accuse me of incitement
to strike in 1946.

And that I opposed
the amalgamation.

I only spoke up to oppose a
Fascist; he's a foreman even now.

He joined the Communist Party and
persecuted workers in the Party's name.

My mates wanted him out and I
gave evidence against him.

Then they went on strike
and so did I.

But I never opposed
the unification.

I didn't catch your name, comrade.

Who are you? Where have you
come from?

Are you informers, collecting
information?

Well, all I have to say to you is
to get to hell out of here.

Right-wing Social-Democrat,
an enemy. See what his name is.

Ferenc Radics.

What you've heard is worth
as much as a seminar.

We'll sit here.

There's apple strudel,
marron purée, Russian cream-cake.

One purée, two cream-cake slices.

I'd like cream-cake, too.

Four cream-cakes, then.

- Have you been here before?
- Never.

Half the course comes here
on Sunday.

Except the miners; it seems
they vanish to the inns.

We deserve this, don't we?

Given up after the first piece?

Now let's have a little liqueur.

Two Mecsekis, please.

How are you enjoying yourself,
after six weeks here?

I think I like it a lot.

I mean, have you made any friends?

Or, rather, is there a good
collective spirit in your group?

István André's the best teacher,
we all learn a lot from him.

I'm not an alcoholic,
but I really need this.

You say you learn a lot from him?

Do you think so?

I don't follow you.

Well, you see, he really is
a good teacher…

but he's still very young…

and not quite self-consistent…

and not quite relentless enough.

I'll write the title of your
reading for the next lesson.

Lenin. Imperialism…

as the Highest
Stage of Capitalism.

Everyone got that?

Thank you very much.

I would like to ask you something,
comrade.

I thought that the forces of
production were the machinery…

and the means of production,
the tools.

Why is man a productive force?

Because machinery is created by man;
only man is capable of creation.

Our strength is not only
in our muscles…

but in our brains, our wills,
our hearts.

Coming, Vera?

I see. Thank you.

It's a bit cramped, but
as you well know…

if you our kind caretaker hadn't
shared her room with me…

after that dreadful business…

Do sit down.

Sign the report here.

In our opinion he's a total enemy.

After the celebrations tomorrow,
I'm off to Budapest for two days.

Will you see me
off at the station?

My aching heart almost breaks

I cannot find your grave

- Can I have your bottle?
- For ten forints.

Do have a drink, comrade.

Beer is so bitter,
I'm not used to it.

Then at least you drink,
Comrade Trajan.

After the official celebrations, we
shall now have a social evening.

Quiet, please.

Everyone please help themselves to the
buffet supper set out at the back.

Then, till midnight
dancing is permitted.

In the name of the leadership,
I wish you a good time.

But whoever has drunk his bottle
of beer, may drink tap-water.

LONG LI VE THE GREA T SOVIET
OCTOBER REVOLUTION

Aren't you coming to eat?

What are you doing,
all on your own?

Here's your supper, Vera.

We're like one big happy family.

Home-made.

Ladies' choice!

Let's ask the boys to dance.
Why not, are you afraid?

- Who?
- Anyone you fancy, sitting down.

Excuse me, may I steal him?

Let's change partners.

Come on, Neubauer.

You place the ball between you
foreheads; if it falls you're out.

First you'll have to take
your specialized exam.

That's very important.

That won't give you any trouble,
we'll help with that.

You'll have to concentrate, of
course, no frittering away you time.

At such times one needs all one's
strength, but it's worth it.

I've still got to buy a ticket.

Be careful not to disappoint those
who have faith in you.

The degree of help you
get depends on that

Two rums, please.

Have you deserted you friends,
Comrade Neubauer?

I've ordered one for you.

You know I don't drink brandy…

and the comrades
don't like us drinking.

It's not brandy, it's rum.

I want you try it; you take
such pains over me.

We miners have got used to this
hard stuff, as we work in danger.

And because we like it.

It's true I did a bunk, but I came
back because I know my duty.

Two more rums, please.

When the Germans retreated,
they wanted to flood the mine

twenty-two of us stayed
underground and stopped them.

We were there for two weeks
with little food and drink.

The water rose, we couldn't use the
pumps. There was no electricity.

We had to economize with the lamp,
so mostly we were in the dark.

If only I had a wife like you.

She'd bring out the best in me,
I'd improve myself beside her.

Why can't you be my wife?

Don't I deserve
this much from life?

Don't drink any more, comrade.

I've never talked like this
to anyone before.

Two more rums, please.

A cup of coffee, please.

May I sit with you?

I've just seen my wife and son off
to Budapest for a week.

What's the trouble?

The trouble is…

The trouble is, comrade…

that first one chooses a wife…

and only afterwards realizes…

what beauty is.

Should one stay that way all
one's life?

If a man's a communist…

can he never change his life?

You're asking me a difficult
question.

We should send him back,
he doesn't know what he's saying.

Be my guest, everything's on me.

This is on me.

We'll meet back at the school.

- I've had six rums.
- Twenty-one forints.

I ought to go after him; he'll go
to inns and get dead-drunk.

In the end it'll result in
another general meeting.

We ought to be going, too
if we want any supper at all.

Let's not hurry.

I've so often wanted to talk,
to tell you something.

I'm always stopping you
to ask stupid questions.

I'm sure you're sick of it
and I know what you think.

- You think I'm silly goose.
- Not at all.

What must people say about
my always stopping you.

That I forget how to speak
when you ask me something.

In seminars, I only speak
so that I can speak to you.

So you will say something,
so you'll answer me.

You see, I've admitted it,
though it may lead to trouble.

Since I stood before the committee,
then you were suddenly beside me…

I've known exactly the most
important thing for me.

I love you.

Haven't you noticed?

Haven't you noticed
me gazing at you?

Whenever we're alone, I'll use
the polite form with you.

That will be the
familiar form for me.

Yes, I've noticed everything.

And you, too, should have noticed.

That you love me? Should I have
noticed you love me, too?

Say it out loud.

Yes, my dear, I love you, too.

I lose my concentration,
I talk nonsense.

I think of you when I'm with
my wife and son.

I don't dare to look the others
in the eye.

It's very hard for me.

And then in six weeks the course
will be over.

You'll go, and what will
happen to me?

I'll never see you again.

I'll come to your room tonight.
I want to.

- Turn the light out.
- I want to see you.

I'm shy in the light.

I was never with such a beautiful
girl in my life.

I was very busy, but it was good
to be in town awhile.

I'd be happy to go.

I came back last night;
I was brought by car.

- How are you?
- Fine, thank you.

Finally, I would like to
remind you…

that in a few days we will gather
to discuss with you individually…

what we have achieved so far
in our ideological, political…

preparations and studies.

A day of criticism
and self-criticism.

I trust you will all behave
as befits a communist.

I would ask you to examine
yourselves…

without petty-bourgeois
self-pity.

Revise conscientiously
all your study material.

That concludes our weekly meeting.

I expect you tonight.

Last night I waited in vain.

Go away, anyone could see us.

Why didn't you come?

I'll explain later; I can't now.

You don't love me anymore?

Someone saw me,
don't you understand?

The visit of the comrade from
Party centre has been postponed.

The afternoon timetable will
proceed as usual.

They're coming back tomorrow;
you must come tonight.

I don't care if anyone has seen.

If you don't come…

Come on.

Just you stay put.

I think I have said everything
I should have.

We don't feel that
you are sincere.

I endeavoured to be as sincere
as possible.

You don't speak of your faults,
or you gloss them over.

And you say nothing
of certain things.

It's true I haven't spoken about…

I haven't said that I'm on duty…

in a border village…

where I have a lot of influence.

When our Party organization discussed
the decree against the Tito clique…

I didn't give my whole-hearted support
to the delegate from Party centre…

and we didn't accept the decree.

We know every detail, even if
you hadn't told us.

But this is still inadequate;
we still do not trust you.

Next. Erzsébet Boros.

"Difficulties fitting in. Reticence
conceals ideological misconceptions."

"Although working in industry, she
retains an intellectual arrogance."

The leading revolutionary role of
the working class is undeniable.

I accept every criticism, but I
cannot agree to that remark.

You are very arrogant;
your words go to prove it.

I'm not arrogant; I don't
look down on the workers.

Isn't that the truth, comrades?

I advise you not to dispute
the criticism.

Péter Csekö.

The root of your fault, comrade…

is the high degree of cynicism
revealed by certain of your views.

This doesn't help the working
class or the Party…

but those who shrink from
accepting Party policy.

Ultimately, it helps our enemies.

I would like to apply self-criticism
in certain questions.

Thank you for your sincerity
in showing me certain faults.

We former Peasant Party members
accept the Communist programme…

but we are not yet experienced
in ideological debate.

I was never cynical…

but I promise you
to revise my views.

I ask my comrades to accept
my self-criticism.

Mrs. János Gurics.

"Superficial,
whimsical criticism."

"Ambigous attitude to the masses."

You can sit down, comrade.

You're a translator?

German and Russian.

And English.

Since 1933 I've been active in
the printers' trade union…

Despite that…

you retain opposition attitudes
from the counter-revolutionary era.

Important work awaits you, building
the future socialist society.

Hard and frank self-criticisim and
judgement of each other…

will help you prepare
for this task.

If we pass judgement on someone…

we are angry over the faults,
not the person.

To sum up: we must
transform ourselves…

we must reshape, change
and adapt ourselves.

The past is merely a melting-pot
of raw material.

No one can accuse us of lacking
in patience.

We have persuaded many to face
their own past…

and join the people's democracy in
the ever-sharpening class struggle.

At times of great revolutionary
change it is unavoidable…

that the ground slips from
under the feet of waverers.

Whoever drops through the sieve of
time, should blame himself.

Let us continue. Who is next?

Mrs. János Mikus.

Comrade Mikus.

I must say we are not satisfied.

You are too passive. Why?

I don't know whether
I can say this…

but in general I
am always afraid.

I never know whether what I say
is correct or incorrect.

If a worker or peasant feels inferior,
that's a legacy of the past.

But if a Party member
has fears today…

they must be due
to serious offences.

I see. Thank you very much.

Next, please.

Comrade Sugar.

You've played an important part
in the movement.

I commanded a battalion in the
Republic of Councils in 1919.

You must rid yourself of
that sectarian arrogance.

Realize you are not the movement
and you still have much to learn.

Everyone can see…

that I do my best to fit in.

I even take part in the
volley-ball games.

My room-mates can testify to my
participation in collective work…

and after lights out…

I often tell them of the
clandestine Communist Party…

and about prison.

Don't you feel you're above
other leading comrades,

such as our Party leaders?

You were sent here to be alerted to
your own faults by the collective.

You are at a standstill, which
means you are moving backwards…

and cannot keep place with
developments.

That's no way to speak to an old,
experienced comrade.

Who was that?

It was me, Mária Muskát.

We'll return to
your remarks later.

- Who's next?
- Vera Angi.

"Hard working, strict with herself,
but as yet insufficiently educated."

"Has helped one of her group
as a study partner."

"She endeavours to make up for the
effects of a difficult childhood…

but she is too sensitive."

In my classes her observations
are instinctively good.

She is accommodating.

Comrade Angi, if you have anything
to add, please do.

Only if you want to.

Thank you, comrades, for taking
so much notice of me.

Never in my life have so many
people bothered about me.

I've never had the opportunity
to study before…

and to be provided for and
get my salary, too.

But, please, something has happened
which I shouldn't keep secret.

On Sunday night I went to
Comrade André's room…

when his wife was in Budapest.

I went to his room; I am
very ashamed of myself.

He didn't threaten me,
didn't ask me to come.

I don't know why I went.

I am not immoral.

Stop it!

Typical hysterical fantasy,
psychologists are familiar with it.

Sit down, keep quiet!

No, it is something I had to say.

What Vera Angi says is true.

It is irrelevant.

I think, comrades, that we have
finished for today.

For once truth must be spoken,
after what's gone here today.

I am twenty-seven, a communist
since my first year at university.

I was punished for it, imprisoned,
then sent to a penal company.

My life means nothing to me,
the movement is everything.

Maybe I shouldn't say this now,
maybe I have no right to say it…

but all this is not human.

It is positively inhuman.

I'm a communist because
I feel my humanity.

Vera Angi and I love each other.
I know my duty.

Surely we communists don't want
to produce masochists, sick liars.

I know what my duty is.

I love Vera.

István André is mistaken.

I don't love him in the least.

I only loved his authority.

He was our study-group leader.

I lost my head.

My name is István Varjas.

I will be leading the group
for the second half of the course.

Now let's get acquanted. We'll
start with the list of names.

So you are Vera Angi?

Yes, I am.

Come in! Have you gone crazy?

Do you think you can solve
everything this way?

You stupid little whore,
you horseshit!

This won't solve anything!

Not a thing, understand?

Three months ago you entered here
as anxious little people.

Now you have knowledge
in your hands.

The greatest power.

Most of you have
passed your exams well.

Your chosen path…

Deserving ones will be given
higher positions…

with emphasis on responsibility.

I wish you good work, success
and the best of health.

Those whose names are called,
please come to get you book prizes.

Comrade Angi's
perseverance is laudable.

She had to choose priorities.

Our emotions are illusory,
leading us astray…

if we cannot discern the beacon
of accepted truth admits the fog.

- Have the others gone?
- On the midday train.

I'd rather go cleaning and
scrubbing floors.

I've no family, no home.

I won't return to the hospital.

I've learnt so much from you all
here, you are now my…

It's been decided that you're to
go on the press side.

A great honour.

We must strengthen the press, it is
full of bourgeois and reactionaries.

We don't send just anyone there.

I don't know.

You will be a journalist.

Me?

Who do you think will be journalists,
engineers and factory directors now?