Így fog leperegni (1970) - full transcript
Digitally remastered with the support of
Maria Patkos was born
in Mezotur, in 1937.
She finished six grades
of the primary school.
She worked at a factory kitchen.
On 17 November 1962 she married
Daniel Szalai jr. from Mezotur.
On their wedding night Daniel Szalai
disappeared without a trace
and hasn't been seen since.
Maria Patkos was found guilty
of murder and of continuous incest
and was sentenced to 15 years
in prison.
THIS IS HOW IT WILL PASS
Abstract thinking is not to see
anything else in a murderer
but the abstract fact that
he is a murderer,
and wipe off everything human
about him. G.W.F. Hegel.
I recognize the tablecloth
and the two beds.
You spent your
wedding night here, right?
Yes.
What is this?
I can't recognize it.
These are pictures taken at the place
by the investigating team.
I see.
You may not know these people.
They acted out what had happened.
It was a reconstruction.
You were there, too, weren't you?
Maria.
If I remember correctly, this was
the man who played Dani.
But I don't remember
who this man was.
What is this person doing?
This person?
He touches that man's shoulder.
No, his face.
He slaps him in the face.
Why can that be?
I don't remember.
- Let's look at the next one, then.
- We'll go on.
This one?
This is my brother, that's daddy...
This is Jani who has just been
to visit me.
- And this must be Dani.
- Yes.
- The man who played Dani.
- Yes.
What's happening here?
Dani hit Jani on the chin.
What's this in this picture?
Who could there two people be,
watching from outside?
- Aunt Rozsika?
- And the other one?
There's only one person here.
And that one?
Mummy.
What are they looking at?
- What is going on in the room.
- What is going on?
- The fight, obviously.
- Yes.
Here...
This is my brother,
this is me, this is daddy.
What are they doing to Dani?
I grabbed him.
And here?
- Is that the mangle,
or what you call it? - Yes.
Who hits him?
My brother, Pista.
And what is your father doing?
Pulling Dani.
Or holding him, rather.
- He seems to be holding him.
- Yes.
Here?
Daddy wanted to find out
what happened to his heart.
Whose heart?
Dani's.
What do you see? Tell us.
The small kitchen outdoors.
What else is in the picture?
- I don't recognize it.
- A hand, most probably yours.
And this is the object which
symbolized the knife.
- Do you remember now?
- Yes.
What did you do?
I ran into the room after this.
- What do you see in this one?
- I'm coming in from the small kitchen.
It's me.
And that knife or something.
In this one?
Like this.
No, vertically!
Here...
I'm doing the stabbing.
This is daddy when...
he fixed Dani's eyes.
- He closes his eyes.
- Yes.
- He's already dead.
- Yes.
Who are these people?
It's us.
Who exactly?
My two brothers, daddy,
mummy and aunt Rozsika.
Instead of two other people.
What are they doing?
Looking at Dani.
And?
They must have been talking.
What about?
I don't know.
Don't you remember anything?
What they talked about,
if at all...
What did you talk about?
What we should do with him.
They are taking him out of the room.
- Who?
- Dani.
Mrs. Szalai, what do you think happened
that night when Dani disappeared?
I think they killed him.
- But how?
- How they killed him?
I thought that boy was so envious.
I just saw that something bad happened.
Which boy?
Istvan. He looked so darkly
at the whole company.
He didn't chat with anyone.
And when I saw that woman
in the morning,
my son had his arms
around her as his wife,
she turned out of his arms,
she turned her back to him.
She could have killed
my son right there.
I saw such hatred, I began to cry.
There would be no married life
just fighting, divorce or separation.
I thought about everything except
that they would kill my son.
What happened to Dani?
We really don't know.
The police say you killed him.
We didn't kill him.
- We didn't kill him.
- Where is he then?
We don't know.
Where could he go
on his wedding night?
We really don't know.
Didn't you tried to guess
what could have happened?
Well, where he could be...
what we could do...
We didn't know where he was.
But what did you think?
- Where could he have gone?
- Where could he go?
We don't know where.
- But you didn't kill him.
- No. No.
When we are shooting this film,
the men of the Patkos family
have already been released
from custody.
Mrs. Janos Patkos sr. has died
in the meantime.
The crown witness, Roza Takacs,
who was present at the murder,
and who was a close relative
of the Patkos family
during the investigation jumped
into a well and died.
We wish to inform you that when
Maria Patkos says
"I don't want to talk about that,"
she usually means
her sexual relationship with
her brother Istvan.
When I finished school
I had an idea
that I would perhaps become
a seamstress,
but later I gave up that plan.
Why?
We had to earn money.
My parents
didn't encourage me to study.
So I stayed and worked in the house.
I didn't like to read and I don't like
to read now, either.
Books cannot keep my attention.
I don't like them.
What can keep your attention?
Me?
I can't say that any books would.
Something else?
I like to do jobs around the house.
Apart from work was there anything
you liked doing?
I did everything.
It's wasn't that I only like this or that.
What is everything?
Apart from work.
Any job I was asked to do
at home or at work.
Mr. Patkos, wouldn't it be nice
to do something else but work?
- To have some amusement.
- For example.
Where should such an
old man go to have fun?
To the bar where he can
burn his money?
You did this all your life.
Yes. That was how I was born
and that's how I will die.
We live to work.
There's nothing else but work?
Only work.
Didn't Pista want to prevent
the wedding?
No.
No.
No.
Then why were afraid to talk about
certain things?
Perhaps if I had told Dani
concretely,
then...
he may have been offended.
But I was attached to him.
What would have happened
if Dani had got offended?
He may have broken up our engagement.
Could it be that Dani didn't love you?
I don't know...
what other people think.
I felt, there weren't such a things
as dates, etc. but I think there can be
affection still.
But, Maria.
You didn't date,
there was
no connection between you,
no sexual relationship, nothing.
You didn't even kiss, did you?
Is that what love is like?
It happened that we kissed each other
before or after the engagement.
What do you think love is like?
What do you feel?
What did you feel when you met Dani?
I was glad.
I was glad that I could see him
and I could talk to him.
Is that all? You were glad?
There was more but I don't want
to go into details.
Why not?
Those things might come back to me
very strongly.
And why are you afraid?
I'm not afraid just...
Don't you like to remember?
I do.
On the 17th we would have been
married for 8 years.
I commemorate it.
How?
Just in my mind.
I can't otherwise.
And what do you think about?
That if we had had a different fate,
we would have been married for 8 years.
And what was you fate?
What happened?
He doesn't exist and I am here.
Why are you here?
For Dani.
What happened to Dani?
By me...
he died.
She didn't love him.
I could see it. I saw it.
I saw her turn out of his arms.
And at dinner she didn't eat from
the same plate with my son.
It was the old custom that you had to
eat from the same plate.
And one plate was brought for the bride
and the groom as a punishment.
They had to eat from the same plate.
But she asked for a separate plate.
She wouldn't eat with him.
My son looked at me with his big, sad
eyes that his would eat with him.
With that he told me that his wife
didn't like to live with him.
Tell, what should have happened
for Dani to stay alive?
This misfortune shouldn't have
occurred.
But why did it occur?
We had an argument and that's why.
What did you argue about?
- Regarding the wedding night.
- Why?
I'm sorry, I don't want
to talk about that.
What should Dani have done in order
not to be killed by the Patkos family?
He shouldn't have said a word
but should have left them.
Why did he say that his wife
was unclean?
That he noticed that his wife
was unclean. Why did he say so?
I'm just saying this,
but why did he say so?
He should've said that he were
going out to pee
and they should have kicked him out
and he should have left them.
Your father said there was no murder.
Why do you think he said that?
I don't know.
I don't know.
But you admitted it to the police.
- We admitted it to the police?
- Of course.
- We admitted it?
- I read it in your handwriting.
Yes. When they put us into the prison
they made us write a letter.
We wrote that he had left but
that was no good. They pushed it back.
They tortured us until we wrote
what we had done to him.
- How did they torture you?
- How they tortured us?
They pushed me and
kicked my belly and such things.
They took me to Szentmiklos.
- What did they do there?
- I was there for 4 days.
Szentivanyi and Farkas were there.
The nagged me and kicked me.
They tore off my shirt and all.
If they didn't say what they wanted
to hear they treated my badly.
How did you know what you were
supposed to say?
What should I do when they tortured
us so long in there?
But your individual confessions
had to tally up.
- How did you know what you had
to say? - We had been taught.
Each of us was squeezed
until we said it right.
How could you be taught?
How?
Shall I tell you?
When they asked how we held
Dani down,
Colonel Szentivanyi took my arm,
old Berci took my other arm,
and they this and that to me.
All three of us.
They did it to all of us.
But the words, were you able
to learn the words?
The questions they asked...
We got bread in the six months
that when we held it by the crust
it bent down, it was so thin.
All the food was like that.
And you were able to learn
such a complicated thing?
If you are tortured like that
It was exactly like as if we had been
in a battle in the war.
They I said I didn't care
what would happen
if we'd just stay alive.
My father always lived for his work.
He toiled all his life.
- He made others do that, too.
- He did.
I heard that people say
you are so thin
that probably you don't eat at all.
We did eat...
But why did people say that?
- I don't know.
- Was there any truth in that?
We did eat, it never happened
that we didn't eat anything.
Not meet every day
but simple dishes.
What dishes?
These days everybody eats meat.
But at that time...
We slaughtered
chickens and pigs, too...
Start walking.
What do you miss most
from the world outside?
One is freedom,
the other that I am not together
with my family.
First of all with whom?
- Your brothers?
- Who do you want to be together with?
My family.
My family.
Tell me, Maria,
would you like us to show
this film to your father?
- As I am now?
- As I am talking to you here.
- I would.
- Why?
That he could see it.
That he could see it.
And what would you say to him?
If you could talk to him?
He could see how I am here
in the prison.
- How? - Maria, we'll show
this film to your father.
Send him a message.
I don't know what to say.
I send you kisses, daddy,
and look after your health.
What would you say
about your life in prison?
I'm in prison,
I get along with the others,
but I miss them very much.
Do you get tired during work?
- Yes.
- Do you find it hard or not?
Sometimes I find physical work hard.
Harder than it was at home?
No, not harder.
When you are resting at night,
do you sleep well?
- Yes.
- Do you sleep well?
When there are no special problems
that make me nervous.
What can make you nervous?
It happens in prison where
you are together with others.
And even with words...
One is more sensitive than the other.
Do you dream?
- I do.
- About Dani?
I very rarely dreamt about him.
What did you dream about?
- That I was talking to him?
- What about?
About the wedding.
Tell us about it.
How our wedding passed.
And how was it?
What did you talk about?
The guests had a good time
and so did we.
- Did the guests really have
a good time? - Yes.
- How do you know?
- At least they appeared to.
You didn't love him.
I could see that.
You turned you back to him.
You hated him.
We loved each other. Even
if it didn't show in public...
I want his body.
Give me his body.
Give me his body.
Give me his body
so that I can bury him.
Honestly.
When you went to the police
to report it, did you think
that they would make you
and the family responsible?
I was aware that always...
that person is held responsible
with whom he'd been together with.
Did you imagine what could await you,
that you would get into prison?
No, I didn't know...
what would happen next.
She folded back his shirt and stabbed
him in the stomach with the knife.
He had already been knocked down.
What do you think about the fact
that Maria says she still loves Dani?
That's a lie.
A simple lie.
She even complained about him
at the police
why she had washed his shirt.
She didn't care about Dani.
She always said that.
Why did Dani marry her then?
- Her father forced into it.
- How?
My son wanted her.
He loved her.
That's why he went there.
Her father forced her because he
knew about that terrible horrible sin
between the brother and sister.
That it should stop.
That a good man should take her.
She was even pregnant.
I saw that her belly was full.
The police paper said that
she stopped menstruating.
She was pregnant.
My son had noticed it.
What could have happened?
Why did Dani choose Mari
for a wife?
He courted other girls, too,
like Erzsike Szilagyi.
That was long before.
He rejected them because of her.
Old Patkos always interrupted,
"What do you want"?
He said she only had
one pillow, she was a poor girl,
but his daughter had several.
So Dani married her
because of her money?
I don't think so.
I was very ill and asked him
to get married
to have someone to do the washing
for him and for me,
because I was unable to do it,
I was so ill.
He did the washing, my poor son.
He thought Maria Patkos would do.
But I had heard years before that
that he wanted to marry her.
I approved. Nobody was courting her.
I said if he wanted to,
he should marry her.
Finally he made up his mind
and went to the Patkos family.
He took her to the cinema.
Her mother went with them
even though it is not done these days.
She was afraid that my son would rape
her virgin daughter.
Mothers only go in such cases when
they're worried about their girls.
That night my son
didn't propose to her.
He came home.
Two days later on a Tuesday morning
her father came to see me.
Dani hadn't proposed to Maria
that evening
but he should go back the same day
and propose to her.
I didn't say anything.
He said there were two more suitors
but they'd prefer my son.
And why did they prefer your son?
Because the other one was
the son of a proletarian.
Did you yourself know Maria Patkos?
What kind of girl was she?
I just knew that she didn't have any
suitors. I had heard about her though.
So why did you want Dani to marry her?
I didn't, I just agreed.
I said, if that was what he wanted
he should go ahead.
What did you feel, what did you think
when you stabbed him?
I can't remember that old feeling.
But there must have been something?
Could you forget it that easily?
It's not that I forgot but when you
are suddenly nervous
you don't know what you are
saying or doing.
How far was the kitchen from the place
where Dani was lying?
About five meters.
- It's right next to the room.
- Were you running?
I was in hurry. Or running.
And I picked up the knife.
- Were there several knives there?
- Only that one.
- Did you know that it was there?
- I didn't.
- Why did you run there, then?
- I didn't know it was there.
- Why did you run there, then?
- I just ran out.
It suddenly occurred to you
that the knife was there?
I must have spotted it suddenly.
I didn't know it was there.
And you suddenly ran back
and it occurred to you
that the knife was there
so you would stab Dani?
I was so nervous, I don't know
what occurred to me.
You don't remember how it happened
only that you stabbed Dani.
I remember that.
Dani was lying on the floor.
A helpless man.
Why did you feel you should stab him?
I don't know.
- Did somebody tell you?
- No.
It was your idea that you'd go
for the knife?
- Nobody told me.
- It was your idea?
Nobody told me.
It was your idea that you'd go
for the knife?
I didn't want to talk about
the crime part.
You brought this up again
very much.
I'll tell you why. I'll tell you.
Even the details seem to show.
I don't believe it that
you killed Dani.
This is how it is written down.
This is how it will go down.
I'll serve the sentence,
there's nothing else I can do.
I am convinced that you only
took it upon you.
You didn't do it.
There's nothing I can do.
This is how it is...
Did you have to take it upon you?
I can't change anything about it.
- You choose to spend 10 years prison while
you're innocent? - What can one do?
Did your family force you?
- Nobody forced me.
- Why did you do it then?
Am I right in saying that you
didn't kill anyone?
How can one do justice,
if one said one thing then
and now one says something else,
and then they say I'm lying
so be it as it is and that's it.
This is different now.
This is not the court.
Still, court or not, everyone
will listen to it everywhere.
But why do you do it?
Is it better to be a martyr?
Why did you accept the life
that you had to live at home?
This is how it will pass
and afterwards...
- What will happen afterwards?
- I'll start a new life.
- What kind of life?
- A normal life.
I has been normal so far, too,
hasn't it?
What kind of life should I live?
What was the benefit for the family
of killing Dani?
I told you last time,
I don't want to speak
about this anymore.
Why?
This case is closed. I know you are
making an interview, but still,
I don't like this,
everything's finished...
Is this case really closed?
- I don't know.
- You're still here. Innocent.
There's nothing I can do.
Maria.
Is it true that when your mother died
you were rather relieved
that you don't have to talk
to her about this anymore?
No.
She just calmed down.
Why did she calm down?
Because she didn't feel
that her child was in prison.
She's a murderer for me.
Her mother, too.
She will never serve her sentence
as long as she lives. Never.
She will always be guilty.
If she has served her sentence
her soul will always bear the burden.
It will be a death sentence for her.
I petitioned for a death sentence.
I collected 500 signatures.
My son's body is missing.
They destroyed even that?
That deserves a death sentence.
If I had had his body,
I wouldn't have said a word.
I would've buried him and
then I would have been silent.
Would that reassure you, Mrs. Patkos?
- I'm Mrs. Szalai.
- Sorry, Mrs. Szalai.
Give me my son's body.
I will bury it with dignity.
Let the murderers go free.
Why is it a solution
that you bury Dani?
Because the soul of his old mother
would calm down.
And then the murderer
could be released?
- Let them release her.
- How come?
Let them. But they should tell me
where my child is.
I'll see how his head
has been bashed in.
- And the punishment?
- She's already been punished.
She'll be home
in a few days anyway.
- She'll be released.
- It'll take a while.
For me it's not enough.
They should give me an account.
I ask you, please, all of you here,
I'm telling you from my heart
as a mother,
because I will demand the body
of my child as long as I live.
They will never be rid of me.
I'll demand it officially.
What could we do?
Is there some evidence to that
anywhere?
There's nothing I can say.
Because if I said about Dani
that I could show him dead or alive
there would be some evidence.
But like this I can't show you either.
There's nothing I can help with,
either to myself or to my family.
Neither dead nor alive.
What do you mean neither dead
nor alive?
What I mean?
If someone days, be him a victim
of a crime
or anyhow, run over by a train
or something else,
it could be told by medical science
what he fell victim to.
Can?t you persuade your father
to tell us where the body is?
I'm sure you father knows.
- I won't hurt my family.
- This is not hurting them.
- No, I can't demand...
- But they are hurting you.
- I can't stand up against them.
- Why not?
Once in your life,
wouldn't it be worth it?
You've never been able
to stand up against them.
I have no conscience to hurt
my family.
My family was ruined by my marriage.
My two brothers...
Or they ruined you
by marrying you off.
It was the family's interest that
they should marry off their daughter well.
Every child has the duty.
This is the ambition of every parent.
It would be mine, too,
if I were a mother
to arrange a proper family
for my son or daughter.
I can't blame my parents for that.
I wanted to get married, too.
Who will bring those 8 years
back to you?
And the 3 you will spend here?
You only have one life.
Won't hold anyone
accountable for those?
Gradually, I won't have anyone left.
What do you mean?
My parents will die and
I will remain here alone.
But they are old and you are young.
You'll remain alone and it will never
come to light
what actually happened.
Everybody thinks you are a murderer.
This is how I will be buried.
Don't you want to break
out of this situation?
Why do you let them
bury you like this?
As a murderer.
There is a mother,
Daniel Szalai's mother
she says terrible things about you.
She's hasn't been able to
find peace, either.
I'm sure.
In vain would she put me
on the rope, or anywhere.
She will never find peace.
Don't you think that if the truth
was to be known,
you could both find peace?
She is not a woman
who would say that is the truth.
She's not like that.
When I'm released I'll find a job.
- I'll not go back to my hometown.
- Why not?
Since I'm accused of murder I can't
go back to old acquaintances.
You father expects you back
at the farm.
What do you think?
He may expect me but
however much he will regret it,
I won't go back.
I don't want to go back.
To do the same old job, not to go
anywhere just work all the time,
I think, after all this time I can
find some place
where I can spend my life
in an easier way.
They always said that Dani had gone.
I'm not saying that.
- I'm not saying that.
- Your father is.
Did you kill him?
You mean I?
That's right.
That's not true.
That's how it is going to pass.
I can see it in your face
that it is not true.
That's how it is going to pass,
did you say?
This time will pass like this.
How?
I'm a murderer.
I took it upon me. I killed him.
I'll serve my time and then
I'll be free.
Director of photography: Sandor Kardos
Directed by Andras Jeles.
Maria Patkos was born
in Mezotur, in 1937.
She finished six grades
of the primary school.
She worked at a factory kitchen.
On 17 November 1962 she married
Daniel Szalai jr. from Mezotur.
On their wedding night Daniel Szalai
disappeared without a trace
and hasn't been seen since.
Maria Patkos was found guilty
of murder and of continuous incest
and was sentenced to 15 years
in prison.
THIS IS HOW IT WILL PASS
Abstract thinking is not to see
anything else in a murderer
but the abstract fact that
he is a murderer,
and wipe off everything human
about him. G.W.F. Hegel.
I recognize the tablecloth
and the two beds.
You spent your
wedding night here, right?
Yes.
What is this?
I can't recognize it.
These are pictures taken at the place
by the investigating team.
I see.
You may not know these people.
They acted out what had happened.
It was a reconstruction.
You were there, too, weren't you?
Maria.
If I remember correctly, this was
the man who played Dani.
But I don't remember
who this man was.
What is this person doing?
This person?
He touches that man's shoulder.
No, his face.
He slaps him in the face.
Why can that be?
I don't remember.
- Let's look at the next one, then.
- We'll go on.
This one?
This is my brother, that's daddy...
This is Jani who has just been
to visit me.
- And this must be Dani.
- Yes.
- The man who played Dani.
- Yes.
What's happening here?
Dani hit Jani on the chin.
What's this in this picture?
Who could there two people be,
watching from outside?
- Aunt Rozsika?
- And the other one?
There's only one person here.
And that one?
Mummy.
What are they looking at?
- What is going on in the room.
- What is going on?
- The fight, obviously.
- Yes.
Here...
This is my brother,
this is me, this is daddy.
What are they doing to Dani?
I grabbed him.
And here?
- Is that the mangle,
or what you call it? - Yes.
Who hits him?
My brother, Pista.
And what is your father doing?
Pulling Dani.
Or holding him, rather.
- He seems to be holding him.
- Yes.
Here?
Daddy wanted to find out
what happened to his heart.
Whose heart?
Dani's.
What do you see? Tell us.
The small kitchen outdoors.
What else is in the picture?
- I don't recognize it.
- A hand, most probably yours.
And this is the object which
symbolized the knife.
- Do you remember now?
- Yes.
What did you do?
I ran into the room after this.
- What do you see in this one?
- I'm coming in from the small kitchen.
It's me.
And that knife or something.
In this one?
Like this.
No, vertically!
Here...
I'm doing the stabbing.
This is daddy when...
he fixed Dani's eyes.
- He closes his eyes.
- Yes.
- He's already dead.
- Yes.
Who are these people?
It's us.
Who exactly?
My two brothers, daddy,
mummy and aunt Rozsika.
Instead of two other people.
What are they doing?
Looking at Dani.
And?
They must have been talking.
What about?
I don't know.
Don't you remember anything?
What they talked about,
if at all...
What did you talk about?
What we should do with him.
They are taking him out of the room.
- Who?
- Dani.
Mrs. Szalai, what do you think happened
that night when Dani disappeared?
I think they killed him.
- But how?
- How they killed him?
I thought that boy was so envious.
I just saw that something bad happened.
Which boy?
Istvan. He looked so darkly
at the whole company.
He didn't chat with anyone.
And when I saw that woman
in the morning,
my son had his arms
around her as his wife,
she turned out of his arms,
she turned her back to him.
She could have killed
my son right there.
I saw such hatred, I began to cry.
There would be no married life
just fighting, divorce or separation.
I thought about everything except
that they would kill my son.
What happened to Dani?
We really don't know.
The police say you killed him.
We didn't kill him.
- We didn't kill him.
- Where is he then?
We don't know.
Where could he go
on his wedding night?
We really don't know.
Didn't you tried to guess
what could have happened?
Well, where he could be...
what we could do...
We didn't know where he was.
But what did you think?
- Where could he have gone?
- Where could he go?
We don't know where.
- But you didn't kill him.
- No. No.
When we are shooting this film,
the men of the Patkos family
have already been released
from custody.
Mrs. Janos Patkos sr. has died
in the meantime.
The crown witness, Roza Takacs,
who was present at the murder,
and who was a close relative
of the Patkos family
during the investigation jumped
into a well and died.
We wish to inform you that when
Maria Patkos says
"I don't want to talk about that,"
she usually means
her sexual relationship with
her brother Istvan.
When I finished school
I had an idea
that I would perhaps become
a seamstress,
but later I gave up that plan.
Why?
We had to earn money.
My parents
didn't encourage me to study.
So I stayed and worked in the house.
I didn't like to read and I don't like
to read now, either.
Books cannot keep my attention.
I don't like them.
What can keep your attention?
Me?
I can't say that any books would.
Something else?
I like to do jobs around the house.
Apart from work was there anything
you liked doing?
I did everything.
It's wasn't that I only like this or that.
What is everything?
Apart from work.
Any job I was asked to do
at home or at work.
Mr. Patkos, wouldn't it be nice
to do something else but work?
- To have some amusement.
- For example.
Where should such an
old man go to have fun?
To the bar where he can
burn his money?
You did this all your life.
Yes. That was how I was born
and that's how I will die.
We live to work.
There's nothing else but work?
Only work.
Didn't Pista want to prevent
the wedding?
No.
No.
No.
Then why were afraid to talk about
certain things?
Perhaps if I had told Dani
concretely,
then...
he may have been offended.
But I was attached to him.
What would have happened
if Dani had got offended?
He may have broken up our engagement.
Could it be that Dani didn't love you?
I don't know...
what other people think.
I felt, there weren't such a things
as dates, etc. but I think there can be
affection still.
But, Maria.
You didn't date,
there was
no connection between you,
no sexual relationship, nothing.
You didn't even kiss, did you?
Is that what love is like?
It happened that we kissed each other
before or after the engagement.
What do you think love is like?
What do you feel?
What did you feel when you met Dani?
I was glad.
I was glad that I could see him
and I could talk to him.
Is that all? You were glad?
There was more but I don't want
to go into details.
Why not?
Those things might come back to me
very strongly.
And why are you afraid?
I'm not afraid just...
Don't you like to remember?
I do.
On the 17th we would have been
married for 8 years.
I commemorate it.
How?
Just in my mind.
I can't otherwise.
And what do you think about?
That if we had had a different fate,
we would have been married for 8 years.
And what was you fate?
What happened?
He doesn't exist and I am here.
Why are you here?
For Dani.
What happened to Dani?
By me...
he died.
She didn't love him.
I could see it. I saw it.
I saw her turn out of his arms.
And at dinner she didn't eat from
the same plate with my son.
It was the old custom that you had to
eat from the same plate.
And one plate was brought for the bride
and the groom as a punishment.
They had to eat from the same plate.
But she asked for a separate plate.
She wouldn't eat with him.
My son looked at me with his big, sad
eyes that his would eat with him.
With that he told me that his wife
didn't like to live with him.
Tell, what should have happened
for Dani to stay alive?
This misfortune shouldn't have
occurred.
But why did it occur?
We had an argument and that's why.
What did you argue about?
- Regarding the wedding night.
- Why?
I'm sorry, I don't want
to talk about that.
What should Dani have done in order
not to be killed by the Patkos family?
He shouldn't have said a word
but should have left them.
Why did he say that his wife
was unclean?
That he noticed that his wife
was unclean. Why did he say so?
I'm just saying this,
but why did he say so?
He should've said that he were
going out to pee
and they should have kicked him out
and he should have left them.
Your father said there was no murder.
Why do you think he said that?
I don't know.
I don't know.
But you admitted it to the police.
- We admitted it to the police?
- Of course.
- We admitted it?
- I read it in your handwriting.
Yes. When they put us into the prison
they made us write a letter.
We wrote that he had left but
that was no good. They pushed it back.
They tortured us until we wrote
what we had done to him.
- How did they torture you?
- How they tortured us?
They pushed me and
kicked my belly and such things.
They took me to Szentmiklos.
- What did they do there?
- I was there for 4 days.
Szentivanyi and Farkas were there.
The nagged me and kicked me.
They tore off my shirt and all.
If they didn't say what they wanted
to hear they treated my badly.
How did you know what you were
supposed to say?
What should I do when they tortured
us so long in there?
But your individual confessions
had to tally up.
- How did you know what you had
to say? - We had been taught.
Each of us was squeezed
until we said it right.
How could you be taught?
How?
Shall I tell you?
When they asked how we held
Dani down,
Colonel Szentivanyi took my arm,
old Berci took my other arm,
and they this and that to me.
All three of us.
They did it to all of us.
But the words, were you able
to learn the words?
The questions they asked...
We got bread in the six months
that when we held it by the crust
it bent down, it was so thin.
All the food was like that.
And you were able to learn
such a complicated thing?
If you are tortured like that
It was exactly like as if we had been
in a battle in the war.
They I said I didn't care
what would happen
if we'd just stay alive.
My father always lived for his work.
He toiled all his life.
- He made others do that, too.
- He did.
I heard that people say
you are so thin
that probably you don't eat at all.
We did eat...
But why did people say that?
- I don't know.
- Was there any truth in that?
We did eat, it never happened
that we didn't eat anything.
Not meet every day
but simple dishes.
What dishes?
These days everybody eats meat.
But at that time...
We slaughtered
chickens and pigs, too...
Start walking.
What do you miss most
from the world outside?
One is freedom,
the other that I am not together
with my family.
First of all with whom?
- Your brothers?
- Who do you want to be together with?
My family.
My family.
Tell me, Maria,
would you like us to show
this film to your father?
- As I am now?
- As I am talking to you here.
- I would.
- Why?
That he could see it.
That he could see it.
And what would you say to him?
If you could talk to him?
He could see how I am here
in the prison.
- How? - Maria, we'll show
this film to your father.
Send him a message.
I don't know what to say.
I send you kisses, daddy,
and look after your health.
What would you say
about your life in prison?
I'm in prison,
I get along with the others,
but I miss them very much.
Do you get tired during work?
- Yes.
- Do you find it hard or not?
Sometimes I find physical work hard.
Harder than it was at home?
No, not harder.
When you are resting at night,
do you sleep well?
- Yes.
- Do you sleep well?
When there are no special problems
that make me nervous.
What can make you nervous?
It happens in prison where
you are together with others.
And even with words...
One is more sensitive than the other.
Do you dream?
- I do.
- About Dani?
I very rarely dreamt about him.
What did you dream about?
- That I was talking to him?
- What about?
About the wedding.
Tell us about it.
How our wedding passed.
And how was it?
What did you talk about?
The guests had a good time
and so did we.
- Did the guests really have
a good time? - Yes.
- How do you know?
- At least they appeared to.
You didn't love him.
I could see that.
You turned you back to him.
You hated him.
We loved each other. Even
if it didn't show in public...
I want his body.
Give me his body.
Give me his body.
Give me his body
so that I can bury him.
Honestly.
When you went to the police
to report it, did you think
that they would make you
and the family responsible?
I was aware that always...
that person is held responsible
with whom he'd been together with.
Did you imagine what could await you,
that you would get into prison?
No, I didn't know...
what would happen next.
She folded back his shirt and stabbed
him in the stomach with the knife.
He had already been knocked down.
What do you think about the fact
that Maria says she still loves Dani?
That's a lie.
A simple lie.
She even complained about him
at the police
why she had washed his shirt.
She didn't care about Dani.
She always said that.
Why did Dani marry her then?
- Her father forced into it.
- How?
My son wanted her.
He loved her.
That's why he went there.
Her father forced her because he
knew about that terrible horrible sin
between the brother and sister.
That it should stop.
That a good man should take her.
She was even pregnant.
I saw that her belly was full.
The police paper said that
she stopped menstruating.
She was pregnant.
My son had noticed it.
What could have happened?
Why did Dani choose Mari
for a wife?
He courted other girls, too,
like Erzsike Szilagyi.
That was long before.
He rejected them because of her.
Old Patkos always interrupted,
"What do you want"?
He said she only had
one pillow, she was a poor girl,
but his daughter had several.
So Dani married her
because of her money?
I don't think so.
I was very ill and asked him
to get married
to have someone to do the washing
for him and for me,
because I was unable to do it,
I was so ill.
He did the washing, my poor son.
He thought Maria Patkos would do.
But I had heard years before that
that he wanted to marry her.
I approved. Nobody was courting her.
I said if he wanted to,
he should marry her.
Finally he made up his mind
and went to the Patkos family.
He took her to the cinema.
Her mother went with them
even though it is not done these days.
She was afraid that my son would rape
her virgin daughter.
Mothers only go in such cases when
they're worried about their girls.
That night my son
didn't propose to her.
He came home.
Two days later on a Tuesday morning
her father came to see me.
Dani hadn't proposed to Maria
that evening
but he should go back the same day
and propose to her.
I didn't say anything.
He said there were two more suitors
but they'd prefer my son.
And why did they prefer your son?
Because the other one was
the son of a proletarian.
Did you yourself know Maria Patkos?
What kind of girl was she?
I just knew that she didn't have any
suitors. I had heard about her though.
So why did you want Dani to marry her?
I didn't, I just agreed.
I said, if that was what he wanted
he should go ahead.
What did you feel, what did you think
when you stabbed him?
I can't remember that old feeling.
But there must have been something?
Could you forget it that easily?
It's not that I forgot but when you
are suddenly nervous
you don't know what you are
saying or doing.
How far was the kitchen from the place
where Dani was lying?
About five meters.
- It's right next to the room.
- Were you running?
I was in hurry. Or running.
And I picked up the knife.
- Were there several knives there?
- Only that one.
- Did you know that it was there?
- I didn't.
- Why did you run there, then?
- I didn't know it was there.
- Why did you run there, then?
- I just ran out.
It suddenly occurred to you
that the knife was there?
I must have spotted it suddenly.
I didn't know it was there.
And you suddenly ran back
and it occurred to you
that the knife was there
so you would stab Dani?
I was so nervous, I don't know
what occurred to me.
You don't remember how it happened
only that you stabbed Dani.
I remember that.
Dani was lying on the floor.
A helpless man.
Why did you feel you should stab him?
I don't know.
- Did somebody tell you?
- No.
It was your idea that you'd go
for the knife?
- Nobody told me.
- It was your idea?
Nobody told me.
It was your idea that you'd go
for the knife?
I didn't want to talk about
the crime part.
You brought this up again
very much.
I'll tell you why. I'll tell you.
Even the details seem to show.
I don't believe it that
you killed Dani.
This is how it is written down.
This is how it will go down.
I'll serve the sentence,
there's nothing else I can do.
I am convinced that you only
took it upon you.
You didn't do it.
There's nothing I can do.
This is how it is...
Did you have to take it upon you?
I can't change anything about it.
- You choose to spend 10 years prison while
you're innocent? - What can one do?
Did your family force you?
- Nobody forced me.
- Why did you do it then?
Am I right in saying that you
didn't kill anyone?
How can one do justice,
if one said one thing then
and now one says something else,
and then they say I'm lying
so be it as it is and that's it.
This is different now.
This is not the court.
Still, court or not, everyone
will listen to it everywhere.
But why do you do it?
Is it better to be a martyr?
Why did you accept the life
that you had to live at home?
This is how it will pass
and afterwards...
- What will happen afterwards?
- I'll start a new life.
- What kind of life?
- A normal life.
I has been normal so far, too,
hasn't it?
What kind of life should I live?
What was the benefit for the family
of killing Dani?
I told you last time,
I don't want to speak
about this anymore.
Why?
This case is closed. I know you are
making an interview, but still,
I don't like this,
everything's finished...
Is this case really closed?
- I don't know.
- You're still here. Innocent.
There's nothing I can do.
Maria.
Is it true that when your mother died
you were rather relieved
that you don't have to talk
to her about this anymore?
No.
She just calmed down.
Why did she calm down?
Because she didn't feel
that her child was in prison.
She's a murderer for me.
Her mother, too.
She will never serve her sentence
as long as she lives. Never.
She will always be guilty.
If she has served her sentence
her soul will always bear the burden.
It will be a death sentence for her.
I petitioned for a death sentence.
I collected 500 signatures.
My son's body is missing.
They destroyed even that?
That deserves a death sentence.
If I had had his body,
I wouldn't have said a word.
I would've buried him and
then I would have been silent.
Would that reassure you, Mrs. Patkos?
- I'm Mrs. Szalai.
- Sorry, Mrs. Szalai.
Give me my son's body.
I will bury it with dignity.
Let the murderers go free.
Why is it a solution
that you bury Dani?
Because the soul of his old mother
would calm down.
And then the murderer
could be released?
- Let them release her.
- How come?
Let them. But they should tell me
where my child is.
I'll see how his head
has been bashed in.
- And the punishment?
- She's already been punished.
She'll be home
in a few days anyway.
- She'll be released.
- It'll take a while.
For me it's not enough.
They should give me an account.
I ask you, please, all of you here,
I'm telling you from my heart
as a mother,
because I will demand the body
of my child as long as I live.
They will never be rid of me.
I'll demand it officially.
What could we do?
Is there some evidence to that
anywhere?
There's nothing I can say.
Because if I said about Dani
that I could show him dead or alive
there would be some evidence.
But like this I can't show you either.
There's nothing I can help with,
either to myself or to my family.
Neither dead nor alive.
What do you mean neither dead
nor alive?
What I mean?
If someone days, be him a victim
of a crime
or anyhow, run over by a train
or something else,
it could be told by medical science
what he fell victim to.
Can?t you persuade your father
to tell us where the body is?
I'm sure you father knows.
- I won't hurt my family.
- This is not hurting them.
- No, I can't demand...
- But they are hurting you.
- I can't stand up against them.
- Why not?
Once in your life,
wouldn't it be worth it?
You've never been able
to stand up against them.
I have no conscience to hurt
my family.
My family was ruined by my marriage.
My two brothers...
Or they ruined you
by marrying you off.
It was the family's interest that
they should marry off their daughter well.
Every child has the duty.
This is the ambition of every parent.
It would be mine, too,
if I were a mother
to arrange a proper family
for my son or daughter.
I can't blame my parents for that.
I wanted to get married, too.
Who will bring those 8 years
back to you?
And the 3 you will spend here?
You only have one life.
Won't hold anyone
accountable for those?
Gradually, I won't have anyone left.
What do you mean?
My parents will die and
I will remain here alone.
But they are old and you are young.
You'll remain alone and it will never
come to light
what actually happened.
Everybody thinks you are a murderer.
This is how I will be buried.
Don't you want to break
out of this situation?
Why do you let them
bury you like this?
As a murderer.
There is a mother,
Daniel Szalai's mother
she says terrible things about you.
She's hasn't been able to
find peace, either.
I'm sure.
In vain would she put me
on the rope, or anywhere.
She will never find peace.
Don't you think that if the truth
was to be known,
you could both find peace?
She is not a woman
who would say that is the truth.
She's not like that.
When I'm released I'll find a job.
- I'll not go back to my hometown.
- Why not?
Since I'm accused of murder I can't
go back to old acquaintances.
You father expects you back
at the farm.
What do you think?
He may expect me but
however much he will regret it,
I won't go back.
I don't want to go back.
To do the same old job, not to go
anywhere just work all the time,
I think, after all this time I can
find some place
where I can spend my life
in an easier way.
They always said that Dani had gone.
I'm not saying that.
- I'm not saying that.
- Your father is.
Did you kill him?
You mean I?
That's right.
That's not true.
That's how it is going to pass.
I can see it in your face
that it is not true.
That's how it is going to pass,
did you say?
This time will pass like this.
How?
I'm a murderer.
I took it upon me. I killed him.
I'll serve my time and then
I'll be free.
Director of photography: Sandor Kardos
Directed by Andras Jeles.