Isten hozta örnagy úr (1969)

At the beginning of the film, a narrator introduces the setting of the story in the style of a fairy tale. It is a quiet, pleasant village in northern Hungary. One of the characters is Lajos Tót, the local fire chief, a respected man whom everyone holds in high regard because he is friendly and dignified. He leads an exemplary family life. His wife, Mariska, idolizes him. To their teenage daughter, Ágika, her father represents everything beautiful in the world. The Second World War is raging in the distance. The village postman is at the front, and the half-witted Gyuri bácsi is filling in for him; he, too, is very fond of Tót. The villagers receive no bad news from the front because Gyuri bácsi does not deliver postcards that contain any. One day, Gyuri bácsi happily brings a postcard from Gyula, the son of the family, who is a schoolteacher in civilian life and is also at the front, serving as an ensign. He tells his family that his commanding officer, Major Varró, has suffered a nervous breakdown because of partisan attacks and has therefore been sent on leave for two weeks. Gyula has offered to have him spend that time with the Tóts. He warns his parents that the major cannot stand noise or certain smells, which he does not specify. In any case, Tót calls in the cesspool cleaners to clean out the outhouse in the garden. The narrator says that his parents are very proud of Gyula. Every visitor must admire the photographs of him displayed on the wall, taken from the time he was a baby onward. Gyuri bácsi brings another postcard, in which Gyula says the major will set out in two days and is very particular about cleanliness. The family cleans every corner of the house, and Ágika is sent around the village to borrow all kinds of things from the residents that they think the major might need. The whole village thus hears the news, and everyone is moved by the respect the Tóts are about to receive. Meanwhile, Ágika conjures up all sorts of fantasies about the major. Another message arrives from Gyula saying that the major suffers from insomnia. So Tót asks the driver of the bus that serves the village not to honk for two weeks, and forbids Gyuri bácsi from riling up the dogs, as he usually does. The family goes to the bus stop with the firefighters’ little brass band to welcome the major. They imagine him as tall and gallant. A tall, gallant officer gets off the bus, but it is not him. After the bus leaves, they spot someone sitting hunched over a suitcase on the other side of the road. It is the major. He behaves strangely. At times he suddenly turns around and reaches for his pistol holster. He tells the family to carry on with their usual lives as though he were not there, and says he will stay only if he is no trouble to them, but at times he takes offense at things Tót supposedly does. For example, he reproaches him for looking over his shoulder. Ágika suggests that her father pull his firefighter’s helmet down over his eyes. Tót initially objects, saying that it is against regulations, but gives in at the urging of his wife and daughter. This is his first concession, though he knows it will damage his authority. On the way to the family home, the major briefly imagines himself at the front and acts accordingly, even firing a shot from his pistol; then he suddenly collapses and falls asleep. At home, the family washes him and puts him to bed. The next day, the major is rested and very lively. He is pleased, eats heartily, and promises the Tóts that he will see to it that Gyula is treated well at the front. That evening, the family sits contentedly on the little bench in the yard. As he always does, Tót stretches and gives a long, loud groan of pleasure. The major comes out angrily. Tót has to give up the habit, making another concession. During the night, the cuckoo in the living-room clock sounds. The major rushes out of his room, stops the clock, then fires his pistol, imagining that an enemy has broken in. Since he cannot sleep, he does not go back to bed, and the family stays with him. The major suggests that Tót play chess, cards, or dominoes with him, but Tót does not know any of those games. The major warns him about the dangers of idleness. As an example, he says that he restores his soldiers’ mental balance by having them cut off their buttons and then sew them back on. Ágika assures the major that they are not idle by explaining that she and her mother make boxes for a factory. She immediately shows him how they do it. The major likes the idea and starts making boxes himself, as he puts it, humming contentedly as he works. Tót dozes off while sitting in a chair. The major invites him to join in, but Tót hesitates, asking what the villagers would think if they found out he did such work. The major reproaches him for looking down on the activity and threatens to leave the next day. Tót gives in again, but his boxes do not turn out very well. On top of that, the family grows tired, unlike the major. Tót keeps nodding off, and once yawns loudly, whereupon the major immediately starts packing his things. The women beg him not to be angry, and when the major asks what he would like to do, Tót says he would keep making boxes. They do not stop working until dawn. That day, a telegram arrives at the post office with news of Gyula’s death, and at the same time a postcard from him arrives. Gyuri bácsi decides that only the latter is valid, and happily takes it to the Tóts. Life continues in the manner dictated by the major. He sleeps during the day, while the family members try to go about their daily tasks, nodding off every now and then. The major has another idea, which he puts into practice during the day: he paints the doors and wainscoting in the house in garish colors. One night, while they are making boxes, the major thinks that Tót is looking over his shoulder again, but Tót says he was following a butterfly with his eyes. The major makes him admit that he had also thought about swatting the butterfly. He then explains that it is not good for subordinates to think while they are supposed to be doing something. He also observes that Tót allows his thoughts to wander because he, the major, is doing most of the work. He asks what the reason for this situation is, and Ágika comes up with the idea that the cutting machine they use to cut the cardboard is too small, suggesting that box-making would go better with a bigger one. The major is delighted with the idea, and Ágika is happy too when he gives her a kiss. At dawn, before going to bed, the major makes Tót understand what he must do. Tót sets off with his daughter and a laborer to look for material in a large pile of scrap metal. The laborer finds something suitable while Tót falls asleep inside a large iron pipe. The following night, Mariska and Ágika are finally able to sleep while Tót and the major work on the cutting machine. Ágika dreams romantically about the major. They get to sleep again the next night, but only until midnight, when the major wakes them because the cutting machine is finished. The major is delighted: the new device can cut ten sheets of cardboard at once. He expresses his gratitude to the family by promising to take their son under his wing at night, since the building has a double guard. They immediately set to making boxes. Productivity increases significantly. The house and yard become increasingly full of boxes. The major’s nerves settle, and he feels young again. He and Tót go to the pub, where the major praises box-making as an uplifting activity of pure beauty, the best thing there is, and the activity most worthy of a human being. He explains to the people gathered around him that all of humanity should be persuaded to devote its existence to making boxes, though the boxes would not all be alike. Each nation would make boxes of a particular shape and color. The Russians would be allowed to do so too, of course—but only after they had been defeated, and their boxes could be no bigger than a matchbox. If this idea prevails, all of humanity will bless his name and the Tóts’. One night, Tót cannot hold back a yawn while making boxes, and the angry major goes to pack. Mariska and Ágika beg Tót to apologize, but he refuses. His wife no longer respects him. She reproaches him for being arrogant and caring only about his authority, while Mariska cares only about her son. In the end, Tót does apologize, and the major forces him to hold an object in his mouth to prevent him from yawning. In the morning, Tót leaves home. At his house, the village priest is asleep on his couch in the afternoon. He wakes to the sound of snoring. Tót is asleep under the couch. The priest wakes him, and Tót complains that he wants to hide all the time, even under the priest’s cassock. In church, Mariska prays that the remaining four days of the major’s leave will pass without incident, and that nothing will happen to her son. As she prays, she hears snoring coming from beneath the altar. Tót is asleep there. His wife takes him home, reproaching him all the way. Tót hides in the outhouse, where he stays until supper. At night, he takes part in making boxes, and in the morning he retreats to the outhouse again. Mariska sets off for church, telling Ágika to make sure the major and Tót do not meet. The major goes out to look for Tót, while Ágika undresses and gets into the major’s bed. He finds Tót in the outhouse and calls him out, but Tót does not want to come out. The major angrily returns to his room. He sees Ágika in the bed, but only expresses his anger and starts packing. Ágika runs out and follows her mother to church. Together they try to stop the major, who is already heading out into the yard with his suitcases. Nevertheless, at the woman’s request, he goes to talk to Tót. He accuses him of sitting there in order to think and hatch who knows what schemes, but Tót replies that he is just sitting and enjoying the quiet. He tells the major to try it himself and see how pleasant it is to sit there. The major does so, and Tót sits beside him. The major likes the rustling of leaves and the buzzing of insects. Mariska brings them beer. The major expresses his satisfaction that their initial disagreements are over, and acts very cheerful and friendly. Tót pretends to be cheerful too. For the last three days, things seem to have settled into a balance. Tót now makes perfect boxes, but the factory does not come often enough to collect them, so there is no room for them in the house or the yard, and the two women take some of them away to throw into the stream. Exhausted, the family does everything wrong while the major is asleep, but they are very careful not to anger him. On the day he leaves, the family accompanies the major to the bus and, after it departs, they breathe a sigh of relief. At home, they throw the boxes out into the yard. Tót starts the cuckoo clock again and carries the cutting machine out of the house, remarking with satisfaction that everything is back to normal. They sit on the little bench in the yard, and Tót stretches as he used to. But his groan is cut short by the major’s return: in town, he has been told that there will be no trains to the front for three days because the partisans have blown up a bridge. He wants to start making boxes immediately, but notices that the cutting machine is not in the living room. Tót says it is behind the house and invites the major to come with him. They both go out, and after a little while the two women left in the house hear three sharp clacks of the cutting machine. When Tót returns, Mariska asks if he cut it into three pieces. Tót replies that he cut it into four equal pieces, to which Mariska responds that her husband always knew what to do and how to do it. The film ends with Gyula’s photograph slowly burning as the narrator says that on that day a list of the boy’s personal belongings arrived by post from the field hospital, and the narrator lists them.