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Sunshine

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Sunshine follows three generations of a Jewish family living in Hungary. The generations span from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Holocaust, to the end of the war. The different family members dealing with loss, betrayal, and the many problems they faced due to their religion during this time.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film history Hungary Jew World War II family Communism USSR

Persons of interest

Ralph Fiennes .... Ignatz Sonnenschein, Adam Sors, Ivan Sors
Rosemary Harris .... Valerie Sors
Rachel Weisz .... Greta
Jennifer Ehle .... Valerie Sonnenschein
Deborah Kara Unger .... Major Carole Kovacs
Molly Parker .... Hannah Wippler
James Frain .... Gustave Sonnenschein
David de Keyser .... Emmanuel Sonnenschein
John Neville .... Gustave Sors
Miriam Margolyes .... Rose Sonnenschein
Rüdiger Vogler .... General Jakofalvy
Mark Strong .... Istvan Sors
Trevor Peacock .... Comrade General Kope
Hanns Zischler .... Baron Margitta
Mari Törõcsik .... Older Kato
Katja Studt .... Kato
Péter Andorai .... Anselmi
Péter Halász .... Wild Duck
Israel Horovitz .... Screenwriter
István Szabó .... Screenwriter
István Szabó .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Awards and film festivals:

Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2001
European Film Awards 2001: Best actor, Best cinematographer (Lajos Koltai)
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2001: Nominated: Best picture, Best director, Best score (Maurice Jarre)

Studios and distributors:

Paramount Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Forrest Gumpstein.

Change the dumb American (tautology?) experiencing every significant event in modern USA history into a Jew experiencing every significant event in 20th century Hungarian history and take out some of the jokes. All right, a lot of the jokes. You don't end up with a happy Hollywood comedy but you do get a long, deep look at the unfolding of world events - Nazism, WWII, Communism, revolution, democracy - at a personal level. A documentary it's not, a drama it is.

It's a good thing that Ignatz, Adam and Ivan are all related because Ralph Fiennes plays them all. That's a great conceit from István but it makes things difficult to remember because they all happen to the same guy. Don't get your me wrong, Ralph does an adequate job of defining the three men in their various stages of life, but they all look and sound alike despite various beards, glasses and haircuts (cf. Nutty professor 2: The Klumps). Jennifer and Rosemary as Valerie (they're daughter and mother in real life) have the much better role because they maintain the same character through all the turmoil, giving you the chance to see how they affect one person who lives through the whole thing.

The cinematography ranges from harsh, stunted realism to glorious, romantic fantasy and back again as the various governments take control of Hungary. For all you up-and-coming directors, this is an example of the outside world representing the inside world. It adds a further dimension to the work of the actors and the script that plays upon the audience's subconscious in ways that mere words cannot; they're only 1000 for every picture, right?

Is Sunshine long? Yes it is: three hours is a damned long time to sit anywhere - even in a cinema - without a toilet break. Fortunately for you the film is of high enough quality that you can jump in and lose yourself, overcoming the need to evacuate some of your inner organs. Of course, they don't give you those big drink cups for nothing...