AllMovie

A handful of preteen boys struggle against abuse and neglect in this grim drama. In 1960, Aron Soproni (Tamas Meszaros) is a nine-year-old boy whose parents' marriage has fallen apart in the wake of Hungary's political turmoil following the failed Communist takeover of 1956. While Aron has been placed in the custody of his father, the boy discovers his dad has little concern for his welfare, and soon Aron is placed in a state-run orphanage by the parent who prefers not to be burdened with a son. The orphanage is a nightmarish place run by a staff of violent, sexually predatory fiends, but Aron soon makes friends with several of the other boys, and they band together to protect each other from the adults who are supposed to "care" for them. In time, Aron and the others discover two members of the staff they can trust -- a former professor of astronomy whose political views cost him his previous position and a pretty woman who stirs the boys' first romantic longings. Torzok was written and directed by Arpad Sopsis, who based the film on his own experiences in an institution of abandoned children in the early '60s. Producer Ferenc Kardos died of a heart attack in mid-production and received posthumous credit.