This film opens in the late thirties with the love affair and marriage of Mr N, a munitions engineer, to Ilona, a secretary at his factory. Over the next thirty years we see their lives unfold, as this energetic and outwards-looking man records his work, his leisure, and the violent political upheavals of his country.
Like an epic novel, Mr N’s film diary has a huge cast of characters from all strata of society, a wide range of settings - both urban and rural, and every year or so, a new baby born to Ilona.
Mr N films prolifically and without self-consciousness, documenting what intrigues, interests and impresses him. His family survives the 1944 seige of Budapest by spending winter in an air raid shelter; in ‘53 he films several of his eight children marching in a May Day rally; in ‘56 a crowd destroying a statue of Stalin; in ‘67 Ilona lying on a deck chair, reading a glamour magazine. An incredible record of personal stability through traumatic times.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
B1002335
Subject categories
Amateur & Student Films → Amateur films
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → War
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → World War, 1939-1945
Colour
Colour
Holdings
Digital Betacam [PAL]; Master
Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master
VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded
MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan
MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan