Kisvilma—Az utolsó napló (The Last Dairy), Marta Meszaros, Hungary 2000

The last of the semi-autobiographical diary series by Marta Meszaros, the film revolves around Vilma's search for the truth. Vilma has returned to Kirgizstan to find out why her father was executed and perhaps finally come to terms with the tragic reality of her childhood. Many Europeans had been drawn to the idea of a socialist Eden in the USSR and Vilma's father was one of them - they moved to Kirgizstan and set up home in a small international community. Their idealic lives, however, were brought to an abrupt end under totalitarian oppression when thousands of people across the land were wrongly persecuted for treachery against the Soveit Union and Stalin.

Vilma's father is arrested and taken away, just as the other men in their community...one by one all her friends are orphaned as their parents are arrested. Her mother tries hard to bring him back but the fight drains her and she dies one night, leaving Vilma in the care of a Spanish friend...Vilma is then forcibly taken away to a Soviet school and given the revolutionary name of Nina Alexeyevna - she resists initially but her spirit is broken when her old friends from Kirgizstan refuse to acknowledge her as Vilma. Defeated she falls into place with the rules imposed on her...however the Spanish lady eventually succeeds in getting the children out and Vilma is allowed to return to her native home.

Unlike the others in the diary series, this focuses less on the political events and more on their repurcussions on the lives of the common man...take for example, the women's battle to survive when their men are imprisoned under false charges, or that of the orphaned children left in the care of those who want to wipe out their real identity. Spanning over the period of the World War, the film also brings into focus the predicament of those soldiers who survived on the front - but barely, having lose both sets of limbs. It's an extraordinarily sensitive film - not just in the treatment of the subject and the acting, but also in the use of the scenic backdrop, the Kirgizstanian culture, music and even colour. I was quite unabashedly crying towards the end of the film - this one film moved me enough to start reading up about Hungarian history and the entire Stalin period in the Soviet Union...education happening slowly and steadily. The film sure has an impact and I'd definitely urge others to seize the opportunity to watch the Diary series, in particular the last diary!

[ Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times - Marta Meszaros interviewed]

[Senses of Cinema - a well-compiled informative site on Cinema]

P.S I managed to catch Rang de Basanti last week - it's a good film, specially coming from an industry that churns out mindless crap like Garam Masala (don't ask - I was subjected to excruciating mental torture on more than one occassion returning from Bombay to Pune in the volvo). The movie, albeit a little over stylised, is well-made, sticks true to the historical events and manages to strike that chord inside you...added bonus - the soundtrack is mindblowing! I can't stop humming 'Roobaroo' even though Ma frowns everytime I start off with "Aye saala..." :-)

P.P.S Make sure you have the right sort of company when you watch movies such as the two mentioned above - the sort that doesn't chatter incessantly, giggles over scenes that do not provoke laughter and tries to find inane subtexts that do not exist.