User Reviews

Although people shovel money into the Sky for packages that include hundreds of channels they never watch, somehow everyone (ie the tabloids) seem to be quick to wring their hands over the money that is given to the BBC through the licence fee. They generally ignore the fact that the fee for a year is what many people pay to Sky in 2 or 3 months but instead they focus on the BBC's digital channels and work out how much money is spent per viewer – with BBC4 often getting the biggest criticism. This always bugs me because BBC4 has always been a channel tailored to those viewers who want more than soap operas or reality shows to fill their evenings. Of course BBC3 is where the people who see reality television as being too highbrow go so I cannot defend that.

"Hungary 1956: Our Revolution" is one more example as to why I think that it is important to maintain this channel as part of the BBC portfolio because as with many such films this is an interesting and enlightening documentary. Hungary is not a country I have ever been to or have any real knowledge of so it perhaps goes without saying that I knew nothing of the events of 1956. Those that do know all about this and see it as one of those things that everyone should just know might look down their noses at me for saying this but to its credit the film never does. Instead it sets things up really clearly and concisely, making it easy to understand the context of the events and also how the revolution occurred and finished.

This structure is well supported by a delivery that utilises contributions from those that were there along with the use of much archive footage and photographs from the period (some quite graphic and a little upsetting I must warn you). Of course the history itself makes the film interesting but credit to the film for making it easy to appreciate and engaging. The highest compliment I can give it is perhaps the best you can say on any documentary, which is that it made me want to know more; it made me realise of how much history there is even just in Europe that I simply don't know even form just a few decades ago.

An interesting and accessible documentary that took me from a position where I knew nothing about the subject and effortlessly got me engaged and interested in learning more.

'Hungary 1956' is part of these series of documentaries in which Western European film makers try to synchronize and inform their audiences about the history of the other Europe - the one that for almost half a century was under Soviet occupation and communist rule. It deals with a crucial moment in the history of Europe and of the Soviet block - the revolt of the Hungarian people against Soviet occupation and communist rule in 1956. It succeeds too little on the documentary side. Although quite a lot of film footage from the streets of Budapest is available, there is too little film, information and commentary to describe the whole situation in 1956 on the background of the history of Europe or of Hungary. I doubt that somebody uninformed on the theme learned or understood too much of the context.

There is a second opportunity which is missed here. The film was made 50 years after the events, and this is a date when many witnesses are still available - a golden moment for documentary film makers. There are some who appear in the film, in fact much of the structure of the film is based on testimonies, but the viewers get too little information at human level - who they were, what role they played before and during the revolution, what became of them after 1956. They just retell the events of these days and this is not enough. I hope that Hungarian or other authors did or will catch the opportunity to not let this important moment of history pass and first-hand testimonies about it be caught on film in an documented and detailed manner for the future generations.