The Round-Up (Szegénylegények)

On a blank plain, a group of peasants is rounded up by Austro-Hungarian troops who, by means of torture, interrogations and killings attempt to weed out the leader of a partisan group in the Kossuth revolution 20 years before, in 1848. In this film, Jancsó's very personal style blossomed, giving the tracking shot a new meaning. The camera waves in and out like an invisible observer, as groups of people split up and realign sometimes moving with them, sometimes tracking them down and shooting them. The film's hypnotic beauty and the daring technique launched Jancsó as a leading director on the international scene.