History buffs will be especially drawn to this drama, which covers the events surrounding the Hungarian popular revolt in 1956 from the perspective of one unwilling participant in them. Beginning in 1953, the central figure in the story, Ferenc Gergo (Peter Malcsiner), a factory worker, is acting as a stand-in for the dead Stalin at a Hungarian memorial service. Bela Nagy (Istvan Bubik) , his factory's "security leader," a powerful and unscrupulous communist party member, has cast him in this role. Ironically, during the rebellion of 1956, Gergo prevents the crowd from killing Nagy, but this act later convinces authorities that Gergo (who as not actively involved at all) had to have been a leader of the revolt to have such influence. By 1958, which is when this story is centered (all the rest is flashbacks), he is awaiting execution for his "crimes."
by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
