7 hours and 30 minutes; that’s what will be remembered in big bold letters by most people who have come across Sátántangó. This is something that sets it apart from other films. The length seems overwhelming, but for Béla Tarr, this became the reason to shoot it. Adapted from a novel of the same name, the film has an amazing structure that imitates tango dance itself. The story comprises twelve chapters which are not arranged chronologically and mimic a tango dance pattern six steps forward and six steps back. It was quite scary for me as a filmmaker, but I really enjoyed doing it and felt differently about movies than ever before.
There was a time when a collective farm collapsed somewhere inside the Hungarian countryside. People are becoming disloyal to each other. Mrs. Schmidt’s husband is unaware she has been sleeping with Futaki. Futaki, who had hidden after Mr. Schmidt arrived home early, overheard this man and Kraner discussing how they would steal all the remaining villagers’ money and then abscond to another part of the country. He went up to Mr. Schmidt and later demanded that he let him in on this plot, otherwise he would inform other villagers about it. This was sidetracked by some stunning news which came later.
Irimias, the neighborhood’s supposed dead-gone villager walks down off one of those alleys towards the inn while his friend Petrina accompanies him. It can be noted that these two were driven away from the village by its police who wanted them to carry on committing crimes in a nearby city where they (Irimias and Petrina) could help them (the cops). They have vowed to destroy everything on their way as they nihilistically see life as nothingness brought upon them by some religious convictions or experiences that have taken hold of their minds; hence they are in league with Sanyi, a teenager who worships their return like gods.
Estike, the younger sister of Sanyi has just returned from a mental asylum where she had been after her father hanged himself. Estike’s brother convinced her to give him a bag with coins that she was saving so that he could plant them and see if they really can grow into trees of money. There is something definitely wrong with this little girl, who eventually kills her cat. Then she returns to the place where the coin pouch was buried only to find out that Sanyi has dug it up and stolen all the money inside. When Estike meets with Doctor and asks for help, but doctor is more concerned about getting more wine.
In his film, Tarr uses long shots which may irritate viewers used to Hollywood films’ quick cuts. The movie being too long makes one fall into a kind of hypnosis state. The second part had three sections through intermissions leading to a much richer and textured ambiance in comparison to what we have seen till now in chunk one. It was called “Unraveling”, dedicated to Estike’s part, which worked best emotionally than any other in the film. This little girl’s descent into madness and eventual suicide are shown with both distance and tenderness by Tarr; He has strong feelings about this character arc yet does not indulge in superficial emotions.
As a matter of fact, he’s into playing around with nuanced stylistics rather than doing realist cinema.
In contrast, Sátántangó consists of only 150 shots for those long takes. For comparison, an average two-hour film has 1,045 shots in it. Contrariwise, they are intentionally made longer to depict space and monotony of living in this place. In Damnation while Tarr’s camera hardly ever stopped moving either zooming slowly out or panning; but Sátántangó allows the camera to be motionless at some points. It could be such that a character walks towards the camera in real time or walks away from it and we experience all this as it happens. For example, the opening shot is eight minutes long and follows a herd of cows running parallel with the camera.
Because of his continuous improvisation, Tarr is very sparing in making cuts to give the actors freedom for exploration and scene development. At one point in the movie, there is a single-shot sequence at a bar where villagers are seen spiraling down into debauchery. Tarr’s camera begins with a high-angle wide shot that captures everyone present. The camera then descends while making rounds within the room, focusing on one person here and another conversation there.
The nonlinear nature of the first two-thirds of the film allows this scene to be presented twice once from Estike’s perspective as she peers through the window from outside and then from the patrons’ point of view. According to Tarr, this particular tavern sequence was ‘’largely improvised,’’ meaning that he never used script during shooting; instead it was only meant to offer his cast & crew some backbones over which they built their stories upon. He includes drunken scenes with many non-actors in them thus lending realism to an otherwise ethereality film.
Regarding Sátántangó: a community crumbling away?
Irimas is a complete coward who comes to the village with only one intention of destroying it and its people. This is done through high sounding statements of having purchased land. The following morning after the body of Estike has been found, he stands up and exploits this situation in order to accuse the villagers claiming that they were all responsible for her demise. He also finds fault with them for not trusting one another while actively backstabbing them, pulling them towards perdition. This brings us back to the starting image of cows being slaughtered unknowingly. Eventually, Irimas persuades everybody to split up and go live in some corner of Hungary until he decides it is safe for them to come back home.
Satan’s Tango by Bela Tarr is a film that ends in both literal and metaphorical darkness. It portrays Hungary post-communist society where all hope has been extinguished, individuals become wolves to each other, and they get easily fooled by sweet words. This was just a personal reflection of his world and life as he wanted to see it. He observed some people who had not planned ahead about what the world of their grandchildren might look like and instead were ruining everything.
Nobody is a hero in Sátántangó. Parts of Damnation were set within an urban wasteland, while this film takes place outside of such neighborhoods. Hence Tarr demands our attention and tells us to watch the world attentively through his eyes. Here we concentrate on a water puddle across the dirt road, old church ruins scattered all over, and a man packing up things with methodical precision. If movies are voyeuristic kind then this movie makes us engage ourselves into an understanding beauty & terror in banality. This is an epic film; it is genre’s most significant accomplishment that could only proceed from someone like him who perceives reality from his own perspective or horizons never get shared with others.
Nonetheless, this would not be his greatest work. In my view, that would be his next film.
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