USA
MUSIC BOX
1989 – 35mm – c - 123’
Direction: Constantin Costa Gavras
Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas, based on the novel Quiet neighbours by A. A. Ryan
Cinematography: Patrick Blossier
Editing: Joële Van Effenterre
Set design: Jeannine Claudia Oppewall
Music: Philippe Sarde
Cast: Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Lukas Haas, Donald Moffat, J. S. Block
Production: Carolco Pictures
SYNOPSIS
In Chicago the criminal lawyer Ann Talbot is obliged to defend in an extradition trial her own father Mike Lazlo, naturalised American for more than forty years, accused of having been a war criminal in his native Hungary, A retired worker, Lazlo has honestly grown up his family, has lost his wife and is now beloved by his daughter Ann and his grandson Mikey. In the court both the ability of Jack Burke, the district attorney, and the astonishing witnesses of some former fellow citizens, make Ann’s defence falter. In order to complete the statements, the well-balanced judge Silver goes with Ann Talbot and Jack Burke to Budapest to talk to an elderly man in hospital, a decisive witness in the process.
CRITICAL NOTE
“ (…) In the original edition the director has made the brave choice of keeping the witnesses’ original language, making them talk in a precarious English or even with an interpreter. This brings to the film a chilling sense of truth, which reminds the tense, solemn tone of a drama such as The Investigation by Peter Weiss. But Costa Gavras, splitting up the story in Chicago and Budapest without using the flashbacks, has well placed also the main characters (…)” (Tullio Kezich)
AWARDS
1990 Berlinale: Golden Bear
