Hungarian fictional characters in mainstream cinema, part 1

Talkative Italians, stubborn Russians, emotional Mexicans and polite British: these stereotypical images are familiar for all of us and they can be easily spotted in films. But what about Hungarians? Are they present in mainstream cinema? Let us take a look at the representations of the nation of goulash and examine their cultural relevance.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

“Láttam a Keyser Sözét,” shouts a severely burnt gangster in this classic crime thriller, which phrase means “I saw Keyser Soze.” The plot of The Usual Suspects revolves around the Turkish criminal mastermind’s intrigues, and one of its main elements is the robbing of a smuggler ship belonging to the Hungarian mob. The film features multiple lines in Hungarian, most notably a joke which the mobs tell each other in the dock, involving a “girl naked at the backseat of a car,” and the desperate report of the burnt survivor. Though the film seemingly did its best to perform the Hungarian lines correctly, there are some hints that give away that the actors were not native Hungarians. A great example for this is when the survivor claims: “Én tudom ezt az embert.” It means “I know this person”, but the verb “tud” rather means knowing some information, not a person. The correct sentence would be: “Én ismerem ezt az embert.”

The Whole Nine Yards (2000)/The Whole Ten Yards (2004)

Another Hollywood production – or two,  to be fair – in which Hungarian criminals get the villain roles. The two installments of this crime comedy tell the story of the conflict between the Gogolak family and the rouge assassin Jimmy Tudeski (Bruce Willis). Tudeski has to face Janni Gogolak in the first part, then Janni’s father Lazlo in the second (both of them played by Kevin Pollak). These two names resemble the real Hungarian first names Jani/János (John) and László (Ladisladus), but are spelt slightly differently, and tough Gogolák is an existing family name in Hungarian, it rather has Slavic origins. The theme music that is played in The Whole Ten Yards when the Hungarians are present also sound South Slavic with its brasses. However, the second film features a truly Hungarian character Anya played by Hungarian actress Elisa Gallay, speaking some proper Hungarian lines.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

This Cold War drama focuses on the story of a retired MI6 agent (Gary Oldman) who is called back to work to track down a Soviet agent who infiltrated the British intelligence. It is revealed early in the film that the reason of his retirement was an operation in Hungary that resulted in failure and the death of one of his associates (Mark Strong). The scene depicting the ominous action was indeed shot in Budapest and features Hungarian actors like Ilona Kassai, Péter Kálloy-Molnár and Zoltán Mucsi, latter of which has a dialogue with Mark Strong’s character in Hungarian.