''The Tragedy of Man'' () is a 2011 Hungarian animated drama film directed by

Marcell Jankovics Marcell Jankovics (21 October 1941 – 29 May 2021) was a Hungarian graphic artist, film director, animator and author. He is best known for the animated films '' Johnny Corncob'' (1973; the first animated feature of his native country) and ' ...

, starring Tibor Szilágyi, Mátyás Usztics, Ágnes Bertalan, Tamás Széles and Piroska Molnár. The narrative is set in several different eras, spanning from

Biblical creation The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity. The narrative is made up of two stories, roughly equivalent to the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. In the first, Elohim (the Hebrew generic word ...

to 50,000 BC to the distant future, and follows

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

, and

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...

as they explore humanity and the meaning of life. Each segment has a different visual style to reflect the art of the respective time periods. The film is based on the 1861 play ''

The Tragedy of Man ''The Tragedy of Man'' ( hu, Az ember tragédiája) is a play (theatre), play written by the Hungary, Hungarian author Imre Madách. It was first published in 1861. The play is considered to be one of the major works of Hungarian literature and ...

'' by

Imre Madách Imre Madách de Sztregova et Kelecsény (20 January 1823 – 5 October 1864) was a Hungarian aristocrat, writer, poet, lawyer and politician. His major work is ''The Tragedy of Man'' (''Az ember tragédiája'', 1861). It is a dramatic poem appro ...

. The film went into production in 1988, but encountered difficulties as the production model for

Hungarian cinema Hungary has had a notable cinema industry since the beginning of the 20th century, including Hungarians who affected the world of motion pictures both within and beyond the country's borders. The former could be characterized by directors Istv� ...

changed. The segments were financed individually and sometimes exhibited independently at film festivals and on Hungarian television. After 23 years in production, the finished film premiered in 2011. It is currently the longest animated film in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Plot

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

creates the universe.

mocks God for the shortcomings of humanity, which he predicts will soon aspire to become God. As the primaeval spirit of negation, he claims to be as old as God and demands his share of the world, which he is granted in the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Immortality. Lucifer tempts

and

eat the

forbidden fruit Forbidden fruit is a name given to the fruit growing in the Garden of Eden which God commands mankind not to eat. In the biblical story, Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and are exiled from Eden. As a ...

. Expelled from the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

and abandoned by God, Adam reasons that he is no longer obliged to show God any gratitude. He decides to live from his own strength alone. Lucifer offers Adam to experience his own future, and takes him from the Stone Age into the future, throughout human history. In ancient Egypt, Adam is Pharaoh Djoser in 2650 BC who falls in love with Eve in the form of a slave woman. Adam abolishes slavery, but Lucifer argues that it would be futile, as history would prove. Adam is taken to

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, where

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

has resulted in corruption and foul political play. Adam appears as

Miltiades Miltiades (; grc-gre, Μιλτιάδης; c. 550 – 489 BC), also known as Miltiades the Younger, was a Greek Athenian citizen known mostly for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his downfall afterwards. He was the son of Cimon C ...

in 489 BC and is sentenced to death after the masses have been agitated against him. Disillusioned, Adam is taken to

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

in 67 AD where he and Lucifer enjoy themselves with

gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

games and prostitutes. As decadence makes the civilization fall apart, Adam and Eve encounter

Saint Peter Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...

and then

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, and turn to God, who gives them a message of love and fraternity. Adam becomes

Tancred, Prince of Galilee Tancred (1075 – December 5 or December 12, 1112) was an Italo-Norman leader of the First Crusade who later became Prince of Galilee and regent of the Principality of Antioch. Tancred came from the house of Hauteville and was the great-grandson ...

in 1096 AD but is disgusted by the

East–West Schism The East–West Schism (also known as the Great Schism or Schism of 1054) is the ongoing break of communion between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches since 1054. It is estimated that, immediately after the schism occurred, a ...

and pettiness within the church. He falls in love with Eve who is locked inside a monastery. Adam is then

Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws ...

in Prague, 1608. He seeks eternal wisdom by studying the physical world while his wife is unfaithful. Adam becomes

Georges Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French lawyer and a leading figure in the French Revolution. He became a deputy to the Paris Commune, presided in the Cordeliers district, and visited the Jacobin club. In Augus ...

during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

in Paris, 1794. Eve appears as an aristocrat who is

guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...

d and as a prostitute who revels in the revolutionary terror. Danton is eventually put before the

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

and executed for conspiring with the aristocracy. Once again in the body of Kepler, Adam wakes up from a dream. He recognizes that ideas are more powerful and long-lasting than individual men. Adam and Lucifer visit Victorian London in 1897 as unnamed Englishmen, which Adam initially finds impressive but Lucifer argues is decayed on a spiritual level, as everything has become a commodity. Adam tries to court Eve and is eventually able to seduce her, right after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, with the help of jewels and a Gypsy fortune-teller. When social unrest erupts in the 20th century, Adam wishes for a society ruled after scientific principles for the common good. Lucifer brings Adam to a future egalitarianist

world state World government is the concept of a single political authority with jurisdiction over all humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors. A world gove ...

. Although initially positive, Adam immediately regrets the disappearance of nations, as he thinks people should have a past and an identity to hold on to. Animals and plants which are not useful are extinct and the useful ones have been genetically modified. Adam questions the

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...

worldview and is arrested for criminal thinking. Eve appears as a mother who is punished for refusing to let society educate her child. Adam and Lucifer travel further to a dehumanized future in space. Adam is at first unsettled, but when the spirit of Earth urges him to return, he proclaims that his spirit can live beyond the body. On the verge of annihilation, Adam changes his mind and promises to keep striving on Earth. He accepts mortality and man's struggle. In a distant

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

, the last remains of humanity are dying. The few people Adam encounters are deformed savages. Lucifer argues that they do not differ in nature from humans of any other era. Adam wakes up in his cave 50,000 BC. He joins Lucifer on a cliff, where he argues for the existence of

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

, while Lucifer reminds him of the futility of human ambition. Adam argues that he can still go against God by committing suicide. As he is about to leap from the cliff, Eve finds him and tells him that she is pregnant. God urges Adam to keep having faith. Adam decides to follow God's word and accepts struggle as an end in itself.

Cast

* Tibor Szilágyi as the Lord * Mátyás Usztics as

* Ágnes Bertalan as

* Tamás Széles as

Piroska Molnár Piroska Molnár (born 1 October 1945) is a Hungarian actress. She has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1967. Selected filmography References External links * 1945 births Living people Hungarian film actresses { ...

as the spirit of Earth

Production

wrote the screenplay for the film in 1983. It is based on

's 1861 play ''

''. The film went into production in 1988 at

Pannonia Film Studio Pannonia Film Studio (also known as MAFILM Pannónia Filmstúdió) was the largest animation studio in Hungary, based in the capital of Budapest. It was formed in 1951, becoming independent in 1957. The studio is said to have closed sometime aro ...

. Jankovics expected a typical animated feature to take three years to produce, but since ''The Tragedy of Man'' would have twice the running time of a typical film he expected it to take six years to make. After the fall of communism in Hungary in 1989, Jankovics could no longer rely on the state-funded system he had produced his previous films within and had to seek alternative ways to finance the project. Jankovics-Marcell

The film was produced one segment at a time, after which production ceased until funding had been secured for the next segment. Just like in the original play, there is a total of 15 segments. Each of these were animated in a different visual style. Over the years, several segments were exhibited individually at film festivals and shown on the public television network

Duna TV Duna (English: ''Duna Channel'', formerly: ''Duna Televízió'') is one of Hungary's public television channels. "Duna" is the Hungarian name for the Danube. Duna has been the ''national main channel'' of the public media MTVA since 15 March ...

, although the majority of the material was never shown publicly until the entire film was finished. In 2008 some funding was secured when Jankovics' 1974 short film ''

Sisyphus In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense bo ...

'' was used in an American car commercial which was shown at the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

. In 2011 the film received 19.5 million

forint The forint (sign Ft; code HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It was formerly divided into 100 fillér, but fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step in the post-World War II stabi ...

from the culture department of the Ministry of National Resources. The total cost of the film corresponded to 600 million forint (approximately two and half million U.S. Dollars) in the exchange rate at the time of the release. After 23 years in production, the last post-production work was finished in 2011.

Release

The film premiered on 27 November 2011 at the Anilogue International Animation Film Festival. It was released in regular Hungarian cinemas by Mozinet on 8 December 2011. The film was shown with an intermission, which made a screening last for three hours from start to finish. The film had 20,000 admissions in Hungary, of which 9,500 came from Budapest where it was screened in a single cinema. It was shown at a number of international film festivals. In June 2013, it was shown at the Facets Cinémathèque in Chicago.

Reception

Bill Stamets of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' wrote:

The animation styles vary throughout this chronology of human folly, but this wary sermon stays on message ... Lucifer the interlocutor delights in the endless conflict between human reason and a hands-off God.

Stamets continued:

To add strains of grandeur, ankovicsdraws on works by
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
,
Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
, Respighi and
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
. He thrills when visualizing the French Revolution as a tri-color mob in motion. Later, twisting DNA strands are depicted nearly as mystically. All told, ''The Tragedy of Man'' is illustrated
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
.

References

External links

Official website
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...