Exercises (1973)

The particular interest of György Szomjas’s short documentary is that it immortalizes the work of the Szeged University Stage headed by István Paál (although it is not named in the film), which after 15 March 1973 was officially recategorized from ‘tolerated’ to ‘banned’. On hearing about events in Chile in early March of that year (a temporary upsurge in popularity for the left wing at elections), young students dramatized the news first in spontaneous play and then in directed exercises. Viewed in the knowledge of what subsequently occurred in Chile, the group’s liberated acting is tinted with tragedy.