The Round-Up

Synopsis

"The film takes place in the years following the collapse of the 1848 revolution against Hapsburg rule. In order to crush the last traces of rebellion and eliminate the legendary Sandor Rozsa’s guerrilla bandits, the authorities employ a Kafkaesque mix of fear and uncertainty to identify and punish the remaining guerrillas in the peasant populace. Jancsó’s formally choreographed camera movements later developed into a mannerism; but here the stylization works perfectly in making an almost abstract statement of the relationship between oppressor and oppressed." – Harvard Film Archive