Dance with the Devil: Sátantangó Makes Mark

Even those with but a passing interest in the film world this week were made aware of a film called Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, by Belgian director Chantal Akerman, when it was named the greatest film of all time by the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound poll, conducted every decade. Critics and other experts participated in the poll, ensuring that it is less populist than the taste of the average film fan, who wouldn’t have heard of many of the films on the list.

Another challenging film consistently lauded on the Sight & Sound poll sits at number 78, the only film on the list that was shot in Hungarian (though Hungarian director Michael Curtiz landed at number 65 with classic Casablanca). The film, Sátántangó, has a special place in hardcore film lovers’ hearts. At over seven hours long, shot in black and white with long ponderous takes (150, according to the director), it is as rigorous a film as any on the list. (While at over seven hours, it is actually not the longest film on the list. That would be Shoah, which clocks in at 9 1/2 hours long.)

Directed by iconic Hungarian film-maker Béla Tarr, Sátántangó was released in 1994. It would take some time for it to catch on, or perhaps for viewers to find the opportunity to see it in the pre-streaming era, as it failed to capture a spot on the 2002 poll. Based on a novel of the same name by Hungarian uber-literary writer László Krasznahorkai, the plot revolves around a failing collective farm in the Hungarian countryside. The director had to wait many years, until the regime change, to begin filming due to political themes and the repressive environment in Hungary.

Immediately and fervently embraced by critics, the film has also been a hit with art-house viewers, garnering an almost unheard-of 100 % approval rating on the film site Rotton Tomatoes. Cultural critic and novelist Susan Sontag was quoted as saying Sátántangó was "devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours," adding she would be "glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life." High praise for any film.

Below find the English language trailer for Sátántangó, long may it thrive.

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