I wonder if viewers sometimes give a film low marks not because it's poorly made, but because it's a film that doesn't deliver a happy ending, nice and tidy--just as others can't stand The Sound of Music because the finale, though cherry, is overly simplistic, given the circumstances. Abandoned is about the way some institutions operated in Hungary at a certain time and place, the way government at all levels abandoned it's responsibility as did parents and teachers and those in charge of children. This is not a make-believe Rodgers and Hammerstein song-fest with happy kiddies mindlessly dancing by the riverside, but a grim and realistic picture of the hopelessness of a happy future when the system fails everyone. It is not a cheerer-upper but a well-acted film accurately reflecting a time and place--so if you're looking for children rising above a situation over which they have no control, this is not the film for you. But it is an often compelling film which was meant to make a positive difference, and as such, one gives it credit.
Review of Torzók
