Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4691 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-11-13
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Hungarian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 419 minutes

Synopsis
A small backwater village is the setting for this colossal Hungarian saga. Clocking in at seven hours, Bela Tarr’s film details the plight of the village folk as they prepare to leave. Believing that there are monies owed to them, the villagers wait for a payout, but some of their number and conspiring to leave with more than their fair share. Into this chaotic equation comes Irimiás, a man thought to be dead and one that will be instrumental in trying to keep their community together.

Customer Reviews

impatience is the only sin....
Currently my favourite film. Though it would no doubt bore the pants of someone with little patience or interest in the finer (if somewhat dirtier) habits of humanity. Beautifully shot (Tarkovsky influence).

Great viewing
This is a great film to watch when you're doing something else. That isn't a joke or faint praise - how often have you looked for "something to put on" while you're surfing the net? I should know: I'm watching it now.

It's basically about a group of scumbags who are persuaded to leave their farm by a mysterious figure - but they leave behind an old, sick doctor.

It's very funny, full of gorgeous long tracking shots, and has amazing location footage. The music is lovely (reminds me of Tristram Cary) - a drunk party scene is simply outstanding.

The photography is beautiful - read other reviews as other people are more knowledgable than me about that sort of thing.

If you're at all interested in the premise (7+ hour film about drunks) - buy it, have fun and watch it over some beers, maybe over a couple of days. It isn't a difficult film to watch: it's great entertainment.

Mud, Rain & Alcohol
A collective farm in disarray. A messianic agitator. And lots of mud & rain. Yes, it's the infamous 7 hour movie, all in Bela Tarr's trademark style: arty black & white cinematography, long slow takes, tracking shots & zooms. The style recalls Tarkovsky but the sensibility is completely different - relentlessly downbeat, squalid & cynical, a bit like Aki Kaurismaki without the jokes. So you get a doctor drinking himself to death, a cat being tortured & a suicidal little girl taking rat poison - all depicted in slow real time takes. It's uncomfortable viewing not because it's boring but because it gets almost too intense.
This is definitely film making of the highest order with stunning images & a very clever interlocking narrative structure, but I found Satantango harder going than his earlier film Damnation. That film had a more focused setting, plot & characterisation whereas Satantango is rather weighed down with enigmatic surrealism & allegorical overtones. I hesitate to recommend Satantango - various criticisms could be levelled at the film & it is certainly not for the uninitiated, but if you know Bela Tarr's work (particularly if you enjoyed Werckmeister Harmonies) or have an interest in good old European art house cinema then you should get this DVD - it's a unique film for sure.
(Nice to see some of the other Amazon reviews here are complaining that the film is too short!)