Sunshine
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Movie Reviews of Sunshine
Movie Review: Anti-Semitism Illustrated Against a Backdrop of Assimilation
Summary: 5 Stars
"Sunshine" is mainly about four generations of a Jewish family in Hungary who try to assimilate into the Christian world around them in order to find social acceptance. Most of the characters -- except for Valerie (Jennifer Ehle/Rosemary Harris), an "adopted" daughter and thus an outsider -- are deluded into believing that such an assimilation is workable. Each generation finds out the hard way that Anti-Semitism is a core societal belief and whatever political faction is in power -- a liberal aristocracy, Naziism, or Communism -- Jews will continue to be outsiders and outcasts IF the country where they live regards them as scapegoats and pariahs.As the personal stories unfold in each generation, there is a wonderful progression that holds the tale together, as well as does Ralph Fiennes' three performances as a grandfather, father, and son. The great-grandfather (David De Peyser) is proud of his Jewish heritage, of his family name, Sonnenschein, and of his family business, that produces a wonderful liqueur called "Sunshine," which is what Sonnenschein means.
His son (played by Ralph Fiennes in his first role), is a lawyer and judge, who changes his last name to something less Jewish and more Hungarian. He finds neither love, acceptance, or fullfillment personally or professionally as a result, and his life ends rather lonely and miserably.
His son (Fiennes again) takes the assimilation a step further and becomes a Roman Catholic so that he can join the right club and pursue his career as a fencing master, ultimately winning an Olympic gold medal. The temporary adulation he receives makes him forget his heritage and his original religion completely. He is sadistically murdered at Auschwitz, sadly denying his Jewishness to the bitter end.
It is the grandson, again played by Fiennes, who not only watches helplessly as his father is murdered, but ultimately, after the war is ended, embraces communism as a solution. But as Stalinist-type communism yet again focuses on Jews as a Zionist enemy, the grandson is forced to take part in the interrogation of an innocent Jewish communist, accused of Zionism (played by William Hurt), who is ultimately beaten to death.
With the help and wisdom of his great-aunt Valerie, who nearing death reclaims the original family name, the grandson at last frees himself from the politics around him and willfully becomes an outcast. As a result, he achieves spiritual freedom. He also regains his pride and his Jewishness and legally changes his name back to Sonnenschein. Communism ends, and the sun does indeed shine once more.
In most films, a central character grows and changes as the result of varied experiences. "Sunshine" just presents a wider canvas in which Ralph Fiennes must be reincarnated several times over in order to get his act together. It's no accident that the same actor plays three roles. It's intrinsic to the whole piece as we watch what is initially a spiritual regression -- with the first name change -- become a spiritual progression with the name change back again. Symbolism abounds as the actual recipe for the liqueur gets lost (just as the characters get lost), but by the end, the recipe is no longer needed.
Movie Review: What an experience!
Summary: 5 Stars
Even though this film is three hours long, it was so powerful and engrossing that the time flew by in the blink of an eye. Instead of wasting time setting up characters and a premise before really launching into the meat of the story, it pretty much begins immediately, drawing the viewer in right away as opposed to gradually building up more and more of an interest level. It also drew me in right away because I'm very interested in Hungarian history, and just love long epic films, particularly if they're also family sagas. I actually wish the film had been even longer, to tell even more of the story of the Sonnenschein/Sors family.
The film follows the lives of three generations of one family (actually four if you count the parents of the original three characters, Gustave, Valerie, and Ignatz) living in Hungary, over the course of about a hundred years. The historical authenticity, in areas such as costumes, archive film footage, and the household furnishings, is really good, though it's far more than just a mere costume picture. Through the generations, each of the three main characters (all played brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes) has to deal with his Jewishness, the changing world, his relationships with women, family ties, self-identity, and the constant presence of anti-Semitism, always in a new form. Ignatz, the first generation, deals by exceeding in school, becoming a high-profile judge, and changing his name, while feeling that he's safe under the supposed tolerant liberal rule of the monarchy; Adam, the second generation, deals by becoming a champion fencer as a means of fighting back against anti-Semitic schoolyard bullies, and becomes a Catholic in order to fully assimilate and be accepted by a society he believes would never betray him; and Ivan, the third generation, believes that becoming a Communist officer after WWII, helping to bring to justice the fascists who murdered almost all of his family, is the solution to anti-Semitism and a way in to wider society. In each generation, each character sees the system he believed in fail and eventually betray him, giving way to an entirely new system. Through it all, Ivan's grandmother Valerie is the rock holding it all together. She's the surviving witness left to so many decades of history, and, as she tells him, each time the new form of government promises to liberate the people and castigates the previous system as criminal, only to turn into such criminals themselves. The performance of the older Valerie (Rosemary Harris) is perhaps the most standout one in the film, even more powerful than Fiennes's triple role. And in the end, the lessons and ideals of all the previous generations come together in a final powerful lesson and message.
Overall, this is one fine amazing film that I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in history or who isn't scared away by any film that's more than two hours long. It's more than just an ordinary family saga, and who wouldn't benefit from a message like being true to yourself?
Movie Review: Compelling, powerful and insightful
Summary: 5 Stars
Sunshine is a forceful and wonderful film that follows four generations of a Jewish Hungarian family through seventy tumultuous years of Hungarian history. The story is extremely well done with rich, finely etched characters. The screenplay is better suited for a miniseries than a three hour film simply because there is so much material to cover. Three hours is both too long and too short; the story is emotionally exhausting making it too long for one sitting, yet the total length is not long enough to do the subject matter justice.Hungarian Writer/Director Istvan Szabo captures Hungarys turbulent transition from empire to fascist state to soviet satellite weaving the history of the times into the lives of this extraordinary family. He puts a human face on the historical facts giving us a disturbingly real look at what it might have been like to live through it, especially from the Jewish perspective.
Despite a whirlwind pace that requires years to be spanned in minutes, Szabo manages to conjure deep and insightful character studies of the members of each generation. His period renderings are exquisite from costumes to props to locations. This is a wonderfully textured presentation with history layered over the human stories, addressing the many indignities suffered by Jews in Hungary during the period, and the many concessions made to merely stay alive. It is a story that contains both triumph and tragedy, presented with amazing candor.
Ralph Fiennes gives three incredible performances as the grandfather, father and son of the patriarchy. Szabo has endured criticism for casting the same actor in three roles, but in this case it is an excellent choice. Fiennes is a versatile artist and personalizes three radically different characters, slipping on each personality like a custom fitted glove. He loses himself in each, rendering them all passionately but appropriately based on the motivations established in Szabo's careful character development. With Szabos guidance, it is clear that Fiennes has an inherent understanding of the psyche of his three characters and plays them with believable nuance.
Two different actresses play Valerie and each is splendid. Jennifer Ehle plays the young Valerie and endows her with ardor and vivacity. She establishes Valerie as the strongest continuing character in the film, providing linkage between the past and the present. In another stroke of casting brilliance, Szabo selects Ehles real life mother, Rosemary Harris as the elder Valerie. The clear resemblance linked with Harris magnetic performance adds fullness to Valeries later years. William Hurt and James Frain lead an ensemble of strong supporting actors that give the film great intensity and depth of talent.
This thoughtful and emotionally provocative character study is engrossing and compelling. I rated it a 9/10 only because I wish Szabo would have gone deeper and divided it into two or three installments. On a dramatic and artistic level, this film is first rate.
Movie Review: A Study in Twentieth Century European Anti-Semitism
Summary: 5 Stars
Sunshine was doomed to be a box office failure. A three hour movie is simply too long to enjoy at a theater. It works much better as a DVD which can be turned on and off as one so desires. Still, I have no hesitation in giving it five stars. This film is worthy of your patience. We follow the trails and tribulations of the Sonnenschein family in Hungary from the very beginnings of the Twentieth Century to the late 1980s. Initially, this is a Jewish family trying to make the best of things as citizens of the now extinct Austro-Hungarian empire. Anti-Semitism is pervasive but a Jew, paying a very high cost, is permitted to assimilate into the larger Christian community. What is the price tag required for acceptance? It is the abandonment of one's Jewish religious and cultural heritage. All three Sonnenschein youths even opt to forsake the family name. Things are obviously not great. Still, the situation is improving. And then World War I breaks out and their world collapses. One of the brothers is foolishly seduced into embracing Communism while the other wisely understands that a viable society must be committed to the rule of law. The present system might not be perfect, but the royal family is benevolent and willing to continue relinquishing its power. Regrettably, the destruction caused by the Great War eventually brings about the collapse of the empire. By the mid 1930s the Nazis are rapidly dominating the political landscape. Adolph Hitler could care less about a Jew's assimilation. Only genetics matter and Jews are deemed biologically evil. Their planned eradication is the logical conclusion of the nonnegotiable ideological premises of Hitler's thugs. Even military heroes, Olympic fencing champions, and practicing Catholics are scheduled to be butchered. The members of the Sonnenschein family realize too late the precariousness of their situation.
Finally, the Communists take over. These totalitarians allege to embrace universal brotherhood, radical egalitarianism, and despise anti-Semitism. This turns out, sadly, not to be entirely accurate. I was amazed how honestly the creators of Sunshine dealt with the Jew hatred during the Stalin era. The only Jews tolerated by the Soviets were those of the self-hating variety. All others were persecuted---often to the point of execution. Sometimes even the self-haters found themselves taking a bullet in the back of the head. Disgustingly, the leftist intellectual establishment prefers to ignore this vile chapter in the history of the Communist movement. Yes, you must see this movie. It should perhaps even be placed on the top of your list.
David Thomson
Flares into Darkness
Movie Review: Epic multi-generational view of the last century in Hungary
Summary: 5 Stars
By taking a slice of Hungarian history spanning roughly the last century, this movie chooses a historical setting which provides a concentrated message of human frailty and idealism amidst social and political change. In this microcosmic world of a century of Hungarian history, we encounter some broader familiar themes of social mobility (both economically and politically) of a religious minority in a country with its own conflicted sense of national identity through different political regimes. Ralph Fiennes (of the more familiar movie "The English Patient") superbly plays multiple roles, as a male member of three successive generations of a Hungarian Jewish family, spanning the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the two World Wards to (briefly) modern post-communist Hungary. Fiennes' presence throughout this movie in multiple roles lends a curious continuity to several recurrent themes in this tale of political and family loyalty and betrayal. Haunted by the image of his impotence at watching his father being tortured and killed in front of several hundred Jewish prisoners, the leading male character struggles to expiate his guilt and avenge the shadowy forces of anti-Semitism. But his own ideals are dashed as his police interrogator role in communist Hungary leads him to confront the hypocrisy of yet another regime in which ideological purity and political expediency are hard to distinguish. With his own fanatical commitment to pursue the fascist elements in post World War Two communist Hungary, the leading character shares much in common with his grandfather's loyalty, as a high level magistrate, to the monarchy of a crumbling empire of which Hungary was a part, and with his father's blind faith in the willingness of the newly recreated Hungary to assimilate a Jew who converts to Catholicism as he also becomes a national Olympics fencing hero. In the end, all three characters of three generations of the same family become victims of different political regimes, all of which learn to use their willing victims as pawns who become betrayed with their blind loyalty. Oddly, it is the several women characters who invariably become amorously entangled with different male characters, who seem most skeptical of the promises of different regimes. Unfortunately, it is not often we find this kind of epic movie which personalizes large swathes of history through the saga of several generations of a single family - and it is often compared to Dr. Zhivago. Highly recommended.