Refuge England (1959) - full transcript
The films follows a Hungarian refugee arriving in London, speaking no English and with little money, the only prospect of help being an address given to him by a fellow refugee. He makes poignant observations about British society, playing the critical flanuer. Finally, after much disappointment, he finds the correct address and receives food and shelter. This film was shown as part of the last Free Cinema programme, Free Cinema 6. It was screened alongside Michael Grigdby's 'Enginemen' (1959), Karel Reisz's 'We Are the Lambeth Boys' and Elizabeth Russell's surrealist 'Food For A Blusssssh'. It certainly follows the documentary style characteristic of the movement, and the attitude of 'the importance of people...significance of the everyday' (Free Cinema Manifesto 1956). It is also thematically comparable to Mazzzetti's 'Together' (1956), as the outsider figures are taking the place of protagonist.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
HUNGARIAN MAN:
I want to tell you about my first day in London.
Many years have passed since.
But I can still remember clearly
what I saw and felt on that day...
...when I arrived from the camp.
# Lively folk tune
It was a misty autumn morning.
Rush hour.
It was the terminus of the town
where from then on I had to live.
All I knew about England was that it's an island,
has some colonies...
...and we have won 6-3 against them
at the Wembley Stadium.
They just ask me,
"Where do you want to live? Choose a place."
Well I've chosen and here I am.
I had just two coins in my pocket.
And I've picked up only one single English
word.
(Tannoy announces train departures)
# He comes the prisoners
# To release
# In Satan's bondage held
# The gates of brass
# Before him burst
# The iron fetters yield
So this is it what they call London.
Well...good morning then.
ACCORDION: # There'll Always Be An England
I had the real treasure.
An address.
The only bond between me and London.
Somebody gave it to me at the camp.
"This is the place where they will take you in.
Write it down.”
So I was sure
somewhere somebody is waiting for me.
I just have to go and find the place.
(Accordion plays medley of popular tunes)
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
(City clock chimes)
NEWSPAPER SELLER:
Get your London Standard!
For them...it was a day just like all the others.
Business as usual. Hours - nine to five.
But not for me.
I was excited and afraid.
I knew I have to get used to all these people
and things.
From now on they will be part of my life.
I observe them as a child,
discovering a new world for myself
What do they look like?
STREET VENDOR: Come here! They're
the rage of Paris and the rage of New York.
There's no winding,
there's no wires and no string.
All you do is just take them out of the box.
- Remember...
(Drilling drowns speech)
All right? That's enough, thank you.
Next one behind.
MAN: Although man changes,
God does not change as man! God is true!
You fancy a picture, Jimmy?
1ST MAN: Would you like to make
things vanish like a real magician?
2ND MAN: Or squirt him with water
from a realistic camera?
We've matches you can't strike
and soap that washes black.
1ST MAN: Do you want to disguise yourself?
Rubber noses, ears, buck teeth,
moustaches and beards.
BUS CONDUCTOR:
Next stop Marble Arch. Hold tight.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
WOMAN: Methodist paper.
Methodist paper.
How funny. In my language
"strand" means an open-air public bus.
But this seemed to be quite different.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
(Speaks Indian language)
(Traffic noise drowns speech)
I understood he has lost his way.
But I couldn't understand anything else.
Hold on.
(Traffic noise drowns speech)
For a moment I felt myself at home.
I even took the courage
to go and ask the people.
Love Lane.
Now, where have I heard that before?
Um...oh, yeah.
Take the second turning on the right-hand
side...
Perhaps you don't know,
but these are the ways and instruments
of showing the way to a foreigner.
MAN: And you'll see, on the left, a set of traffic
lights. Turn right at the traffic lights.
As you turn right,
you'll see a big restaurant on the corner.
Go past the restaurant
and you'll see a big garage.
And just past the garage
you'll see this Love Lane.
Well it looks like the street.
Now, let's see which is the house.
(Lawn mower clatters)
So that's it.
Looks nice.
And he's the one.
Good morning.
You know, if I could speak, I would tell you now,
it's good to find you.
Good morning, Mr Cox.
I think he said, he's afraid but he isn't Mr Cox.
It was an awkward situation.
We just stood there, both of us.
He was probably expecting an explanation.
But I couldn't explain anything.
I think he said something about tea,
but I couldn't stay.
I had no time to waste.
(Lawn mower clatters)
There must be somewhere a Mr Cox.
I'll find him.
But how?
So I met him with his A-Z of Greater London.
It was early afternoon.
I had to cross London again.
Suddenly,
it had grown monstrously big around me.
All the stones and walls made me feel
more and more that I am a stranger here.
"What do you want?
We belong here. This is our town.
We love in it. We eat in it. We work in it.
We all go home in it.
We all know the road on which to go.
We were born here.
We all have our friends, our own fun and jokes.
Of course, you wouldn't understand.
Anyway, who are you?"
# Lively tune
When will I become
a simple, average pedestrian like they are?
How long a time must pass
till I will greet with "Bye-bye. Cheerio."?
How could I address these people
with different thoughts and different feelings,
feel the same as they do?
And if in some days maybe I will work with you -
or with you -
what will you say?
If I could speak English and ask you now,
"Please help me to find a home",
what would you say?
One day I will ask you for a job.
Or you.
Or maybe you.
What will you say?
NEWSPAPER SELLER:
Star, News and Standard!
Paper!
I know many of you liked us -
others maybe not so much.
You all did what you could.
But all I was seeking that moment
was just a word from someone.
A small gesture of human contact.
You know, it breaks my heart
every time I put this man in this bag.
There's only one person I'd like to put in that
bag and that's my mother-in-law.
Unfortunately, though, she is like me.
She's too fat.
That by battering his body on this hard ground,
he'll make his escape.
And the entire lot
without any assistance from me whatsoever.
And in doing so, even entertain you.
And before the entertainment
that he's about to give you,
I'm going to offer each and every one of you...
(Voice fades)
Which is the house?
Where will they say to me,
"Sit down. Have a rest."?
She gave me two shillings for the Tube.
"You got the wrong address. I'm sorry."
(Escalator rattles)
There were still four houses left
I must sleep somewhere.
I must talk to someone.
No, I didn't feel homesick.
I would call it just loneliness.
(Man sings)
# Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me
# Thrill me, honey, honey, thrill me
# Don't care even if I blow my top
# But, honey, honey, don't stop
(Street vendor shouts)
This is the very middle of the world.
What should I do with it?
What's my business here?
How did I get here?
I'm tired.
I didn't want to come. We were fighting,
we had lost. I had to come, that's all.
It wasn't my fault. Whose fault is it?
Hers? Mr K's? The United Nations?
His?
Are we all guilty in it or none of us?
Are we the ones who form our own history?
Or do we just go when we have to go?
I must give up. I can never find it.
It's all the same. I'm not interested.
No, there is no other place.
I have to live here.
I have to live here.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
Maybe the next house.
It must be the next one.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
HUNGARIAN MAN:
I want to tell you about my first day in London.
Many years have passed since.
But I can still remember clearly
what I saw and felt on that day...
...when I arrived from the camp.
# Lively folk tune
It was a misty autumn morning.
Rush hour.
It was the terminus of the town
where from then on I had to live.
All I knew about England was that it's an island,
has some colonies...
...and we have won 6-3 against them
at the Wembley Stadium.
They just ask me,
"Where do you want to live? Choose a place."
Well I've chosen and here I am.
I had just two coins in my pocket.
And I've picked up only one single English
word.
(Tannoy announces train departures)
# He comes the prisoners
# To release
# In Satan's bondage held
# The gates of brass
# Before him burst
# The iron fetters yield
So this is it what they call London.
Well...good morning then.
ACCORDION: # There'll Always Be An England
I had the real treasure.
An address.
The only bond between me and London.
Somebody gave it to me at the camp.
"This is the place where they will take you in.
Write it down.”
So I was sure
somewhere somebody is waiting for me.
I just have to go and find the place.
(Accordion plays medley of popular tunes)
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
(City clock chimes)
NEWSPAPER SELLER:
Get your London Standard!
For them...it was a day just like all the others.
Business as usual. Hours - nine to five.
But not for me.
I was excited and afraid.
I knew I have to get used to all these people
and things.
From now on they will be part of my life.
I observe them as a child,
discovering a new world for myself
What do they look like?
STREET VENDOR: Come here! They're
the rage of Paris and the rage of New York.
There's no winding,
there's no wires and no string.
All you do is just take them out of the box.
- Remember...
(Drilling drowns speech)
All right? That's enough, thank you.
Next one behind.
MAN: Although man changes,
God does not change as man! God is true!
You fancy a picture, Jimmy?
1ST MAN: Would you like to make
things vanish like a real magician?
2ND MAN: Or squirt him with water
from a realistic camera?
We've matches you can't strike
and soap that washes black.
1ST MAN: Do you want to disguise yourself?
Rubber noses, ears, buck teeth,
moustaches and beards.
BUS CONDUCTOR:
Next stop Marble Arch. Hold tight.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
WOMAN: Methodist paper.
Methodist paper.
How funny. In my language
"strand" means an open-air public bus.
But this seemed to be quite different.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
(Speaks Indian language)
(Traffic noise drowns speech)
I understood he has lost his way.
But I couldn't understand anything else.
Hold on.
(Traffic noise drowns speech)
For a moment I felt myself at home.
I even took the courage
to go and ask the people.
Love Lane.
Now, where have I heard that before?
Um...oh, yeah.
Take the second turning on the right-hand
side...
Perhaps you don't know,
but these are the ways and instruments
of showing the way to a foreigner.
MAN: And you'll see, on the left, a set of traffic
lights. Turn right at the traffic lights.
As you turn right,
you'll see a big restaurant on the corner.
Go past the restaurant
and you'll see a big garage.
And just past the garage
you'll see this Love Lane.
Well it looks like the street.
Now, let's see which is the house.
(Lawn mower clatters)
So that's it.
Looks nice.
And he's the one.
Good morning.
You know, if I could speak, I would tell you now,
it's good to find you.
Good morning, Mr Cox.
I think he said, he's afraid but he isn't Mr Cox.
It was an awkward situation.
We just stood there, both of us.
He was probably expecting an explanation.
But I couldn't explain anything.
I think he said something about tea,
but I couldn't stay.
I had no time to waste.
(Lawn mower clatters)
There must be somewhere a Mr Cox.
I'll find him.
But how?
So I met him with his A-Z of Greater London.
It was early afternoon.
I had to cross London again.
Suddenly,
it had grown monstrously big around me.
All the stones and walls made me feel
more and more that I am a stranger here.
"What do you want?
We belong here. This is our town.
We love in it. We eat in it. We work in it.
We all go home in it.
We all know the road on which to go.
We were born here.
We all have our friends, our own fun and jokes.
Of course, you wouldn't understand.
Anyway, who are you?"
# Lively tune
When will I become
a simple, average pedestrian like they are?
How long a time must pass
till I will greet with "Bye-bye. Cheerio."?
How could I address these people
with different thoughts and different feelings,
feel the same as they do?
And if in some days maybe I will work with you -
or with you -
what will you say?
If I could speak English and ask you now,
"Please help me to find a home",
what would you say?
One day I will ask you for a job.
Or you.
Or maybe you.
What will you say?
NEWSPAPER SELLER:
Star, News and Standard!
Paper!
I know many of you liked us -
others maybe not so much.
You all did what you could.
But all I was seeking that moment
was just a word from someone.
A small gesture of human contact.
You know, it breaks my heart
every time I put this man in this bag.
There's only one person I'd like to put in that
bag and that's my mother-in-law.
Unfortunately, though, she is like me.
She's too fat.
That by battering his body on this hard ground,
he'll make his escape.
And the entire lot
without any assistance from me whatsoever.
And in doing so, even entertain you.
And before the entertainment
that he's about to give you,
I'm going to offer each and every one of you...
(Voice fades)
Which is the house?
Where will they say to me,
"Sit down. Have a rest."?
She gave me two shillings for the Tube.
"You got the wrong address. I'm sorry."
(Escalator rattles)
There were still four houses left
I must sleep somewhere.
I must talk to someone.
No, I didn't feel homesick.
I would call it just loneliness.
(Man sings)
# Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me
# Thrill me, honey, honey, thrill me
# Don't care even if I blow my top
# But, honey, honey, don't stop
(Street vendor shouts)
This is the very middle of the world.
What should I do with it?
What's my business here?
How did I get here?
I'm tired.
I didn't want to come. We were fighting,
we had lost. I had to come, that's all.
It wasn't my fault. Whose fault is it?
Hers? Mr K's? The United Nations?
His?
Are we all guilty in it or none of us?
Are we the ones who form our own history?
Or do we just go when we have to go?
I must give up. I can never find it.
It's all the same. I'm not interested.
No, there is no other place.
I have to live here.
I have to live here.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)
Maybe the next house.
It must be the next one.
(Recorder plays Hungarian folk song)