Red Psalm

                       
Miklós Jancsó's Red Psalm, from 1972, is an agricultural collective musical that is a strange mix of agitprop, Busby Berkely, and folk culture. As was his want, Jancsó employs long takes and a tracking camera to record three moving grounds (fore, mid and back) of music and dance. What plot there is unspecific and allegorical: socialist minded peasants seek fair treatment from there landlord, but are brutally put down by imperial forces. The uniforms and weapons of the Austro-Hungarian army suggest that the events depicted are at the end of the 19th Century, but Jancsó wants to celebrate the worker solidarity that had been a factor in Hungarian politics since 1848. The Hungarian title of the film, And the People Shall Ask, is a quote from Sädor Petófi, a national hero for his poetry and involvement in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Petófi celebrated the plains of his homeland in his poems and Jancsó follows suit here and in his subsequent theatrical film, Electra, My Love. 

Red Psalm is not for those who favor plot driven films. Red Psalm and Electra, My Love with their minimal dialogue resemble woven tapestries instead of traditional narrative films, somewhat akin to the work of Sergei Parajanov. Red Psalm, though, is much more in line with socialist worker solidarity than the work of the more mysterious Parajanov. The film aims to win over coverts to the communist cause with music in many languages, sloganeering, folk dances, and copious amounts of female nudity. The latter is not displayed in a prurient fashion, but is used to juxtapose the life affirming spirit of the socialist youth versus the death bringing forces of fascistic repression. Indeed, the spectacle of Red Psalm often resembles that of a fertility rite with the high tide of socialist rebellion represented by a maypole. 

If I prefer the very similar Elektra, My Love to Red Psalm, it is because Red Psalm seems more entrenched in state ideological orthodoxy than the later film which contains veiled criticism of Hungarian strongman János Kádár. Red Psalm hews a little to closely to the party line and even contains an exultant church burning which would not be out of place in an early Soviet silent. Still, all of Jancsó's films are underseen in this country and I would urge all film lovers to give his work a chance. Kino Lorber has released six of Jancsó's greatest films on disc and streamers can find Red Psalm and other Jancsó films on Kanopy.