56/50 - American Documentaries of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1956

Abstract

     The fiftieth anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution received worldwide attention: Over 100 conferences were held and more than two dozen scholarly publications appeared in English. In the modern world of digital media, it is hardly surprising that documentaries were also made, but it was a pleasant surprise to see four of those coming from North American filmmakers. The 1956 Revolution is one of the formative events of both Hungarian and world history, and it has been the subject of earlier American documentaries. Revolt in Hungary and Hungary in Flames both aired in 1958, and both were compiled from archival footage smuggled out of Hungary in November and December 1956. Between 1958 and 1986, four additional programs were made for American television.¹ Yet, what we saw on the fiftieth anniversary is something quite different.
     The period since the end of the cold war has seen a revolution in filmmaking and distribution. With the development of HD and computer technology, it has become easier to shoot and produce films, and the collapse of the Iron Curtain has made hitherto unavailable information (and people) more easily accessible to American filmmakers. The Internet serves as a medium for both advertising and distributing films, sometimes even illegally. The measure for success is now performance at film festivals, although more and more documentaries hit the movie screens as well. The four films under review here represent four different approaches towards filmmaking, advertising, and distribution. What they do have in common is reliable storytelling and wide appeal, which reaches, or should reach, into American classrooms.