(Szabadság, Szerelem) The Hollywood touch leaves marks on the entertainingly bombastic “Children of Glory,” centering on the heated water polo match between Russia and Hungary during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics as the Soviets were smashing the Hungarian Revolution on the other side of the world in Budapest. The first Hungarian-language film written by pulp-fist screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (“Showgirls,” “Basic Instinct,””An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn”) and machine-tooled producer Andrew G. Vajna (“Total Recall,” “Evita,” “Angel Heart”), it has more than its share of U.S.-style uplift and proves that narrative naiveté, can, sometimes take you so far. Locations provide a note of historical authenticity otherwise disregarded. The script was co-written by local scribes Eva Gárdos, Geza Beremenyi and Reka Divinyi. With Kata Dobó, Iván Fenyö, Sándor Csányi, Károly Gesztesi, Ildikó Bánsági, Tamás Jordán, Viktória Szávai, Zsolt Huszár, Tamás Keresztes, Péter Haumann. 120m. (Ray Pride)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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