Focus Country - Hungary. Zoltán Fábri Retrospective. Az ötödik pecsét / The Fifth Seal

Synopsis

Set in Budapest, 1944, during the Nazi occupation, a group of ordinary friends—a watchmaker, a bookseller, a carpenter, and an innkeeper—gather at a pub to drink and talk. Their conversation takes a chilling turn when the watchmaker poses a moral dilemma: if you were to die and be reincarnated, would you choose to be a wealthy, cruel tyrant with no conscience or a virtuous slave who is tortured and loses everything?. What begins as a hypothetical debate soon becomes a terrifying reality when they are arrested by the Arrow Cross and forced to make a choice that defines their humanity.

Fábri’s philosophical war drama is widely regarded as his moral masterpiece. It won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival, was shown at Berlin, and was even Hungary’s submission for the Academy Awards. International critics have called it a chilling, rigorous probe of conscience, the film that sealed Fábri’s reputation as a heavyweight in political cinema.