Ferenc Torok begins "1945," his "High Noon"-style adaptation of Hungarian author Gabor T. Szanto's short story "Homecoming," with the sight of a huge steam locomotive belching its way into the station of a tiny village. The town's inhabitants are set to celebrate the wedding day of a charming young man, the son of the community's town clerk.
Just as in the Gary Cooper oater, all is not well in this rural haven. World War II, with its horrific death tolls, has just concluded as two darkly attired men climb down from the train, bearing with them two large trunks.
Word spreads quickly, and soon everyone in town comes to dread the appearance of these visitors. As Russian troops circle the town, set to crush hopes of a Hungarian postwar democracy, the strangers recruit men with shovels to dig in the local graveyard. Suspense mounts as we learn why many townsfolk fear the return of their village's once-thriving Jewish community.
The town clerk and the station master, the guys who run the village, meet over plates of hearty noodles.
"Jews have arrived. With trunks of perfume."
"Perfume? Locals?"
"Who knows? They all look the same: hats, beards."
The clerk practically inhales his noodles, then grabs his hat and heads for the door, stopping only for a chat with the town drunk.
"Bandi, there are Jews in the village. Tell the others, but first tell your wife."
Unlike the typical Holocaust-era tale, Torok's film keeps its focus tightly on the daily rituals of the village. We observe the sinister, sleepy qualities of a community that has "Rip Van Winkled" itself through two devastating wars, mass extermination, and an impending Russian takeover in which Soviet troops will grab everything in sight, from food to tools and money. A country that is struggling to achieve its first democratic institutions is instead about to pop back into the deep-freeze of Cold War Stalinism.
"1945" is remarkable in the deft way it reveals bad news through small gestures: the way a man rolls a cigarette, the roll call of bad news on the radio, in which the American atomic blast destroying a Japanese city is just another grim item.
From the first sight of the locomotive, itself a kind fire-breathing dragon, to an O'Henry-style surprise ending, "1945" keeps us riveted as we learn how modern Hungary earned its reputation for being one of the most fiercely anti-Semitic spots on the planet.
"1945," which played at the 2017 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, is in Hungarian with English subtitles. Opens Friday.