You can size this window and keep it along side the Film List. All reviews will be displayed in this window (if it is still open). If you came here from a search engine you can use this link to get to the film list.
Kontroll (2003)
Hungarian version of Subway
This is too simplistic a title, but it is a starting point. Subway and Kontroll are completely different films, but there are some superficial resemblances. Underground railways is the obvious one, a life going on down below is another, a bunch of misfits is a third, both films are superbly directed is a fourth, but the plots are not the same.
The plot in Kontroll is simple; ticket inspectors roam the underground in teams trying to catch the fare dodgers and are asked to assist in the catching of a "Pusher", a sinister hooded figure who pushes people over the platform edge in to the path of trains. There is also a love interest between Bulcsú, the leader of the team we follow, and a girl dressed in a teddy bear costume. It is hard to follow where this story is going though, and at the end of the film one is not entirely sure where one has arrived.
The film has a definite fantasy feel to it, mixed with a sense of grim reality. I found the team characters all objectionable, almost revolting, but at the same time they grew on you and one felt drawn in to empathise with them. The narcolepsy sufferer in particular played his part so well that he soon wins you over. A major portion of the story's interest is the identity of the hooded figure. "The suits" suspect Bulcsú because he was seen chasing "Bootsie" just before he went over the edge, and he never seems to leave the underground and sleeps on the platforms. The identity of the Pusher is not overtly revealed and the film seems unresolved on this point at the end, however, if one is observant there are clues in the film as to who it is.
I can't help recalling the animations that came out of the eastern block during the height of the cold war, where to escape censorship they had to make their points allegorically. Although the cold war and iron curtain have both gone and Hungary is part of the EU now, perhaps this way of making films is still in their culture and we should look for deeper meaning. The ending with Teddy Bear now wearing a costume with wings as she accompanied Bulcsú up the escalator certainly seems to suggest this to me.
If you prefer American films where everything is spelt out in simple words then you may be lost in this. If you like European films, where you need to put some money in the thinking meter before watching, then you might enjoy this. It is certainly a film that deserves watching.
Other reviews:-