Somewhere in Europe
SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE is the first major achievement of postwar Hungarian cinema as well as a key film in the history of neorealist cinema. Directed by Geza Radvanyi and co-written by legendary film critic and scholar Bela Balazs, SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE is a De Sica-like tale of homeless war orphans in devastated postwar Hungary. Living by their wits and stealing to eat, a ragged band of scavenging children take refuge in a ruined castle, only to discover it’s inhabited by an eccentric orchestra conductor who has been emotionally and spiritually destroyed by war. Both children and adult find a renewed sense of community and hope until a bitter encounter with "civilized" society proves it’s as cruel as ever.  Impressively filmed by Barnabas Hegyi and produced by the Hungarian Communist Party before it took power, SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE is a rediscovered treasure that compares favorably to the greatest of Italian Neorealist films.