[Two Half-Times in Hell / Két félidö a pokolban] HU 1961, R: Zoltán Fábri mit Imre Sinkovits, Dezsö Garas, József Szendrõ, 140 Min, OmeU

„In Zoltán Fábris „Zwei Halbzeiten in der Hölle“ … wird ein Fußballspiel zwischen NS-Gefängniswärtern und Kriegsgefangenen zum Spiegelbild des Wahnsinns des Zweiten Weltkriegs.“ (kino.de) On Hitler’s birthday, Nazi soldiers decide to organise a soccer match between prisoners of war and Germans. Although the organiser believes that soccer is sacred and does his best to train the team, he is tempted to escape along with the others as soon as they find an opportunity. They get caught, but the game takes place anyway. They play, hoping that they might get pardoned and escape execution. War and sport are portrayed in an irresistible combination. A remake entitled ‘Escape to Victory’ by John Huston was filmed two decades later in Budapest, starring Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Pele and Max von Sydow.

“It fully plays like the propaganda it actually is as the outcome supposedly wasn’t as harsh in reality depending on time, place and the regimes’ versions. It is quite interesting to see the manipulative effects of a system (and its filmmaking talents) by such a great director compared to its western counterparts.” (cinetalk.net, 2016)

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