Chickenhead

Chickenhead (1986) is a drama film directed by Gábor Zsámbéki.

It is a tragedy, set among low-lifes on the outskirts of Budapest. Dramatic Exchange describes it as "Widely considered to be the most important Hungarian play of the last 20 years". The odd title of the play refers in the first instance to the chicken heads that an old woman feeds to her cat. However, it can also be taken to refer more broadly to the obtuse behaviour of the main characters in the play. The play is an odd mixture of pathos and nihilism, written against the bleak background of Stalinist totalitarianism from which Hungary was emerging. As with much modern drama, there is no hero in the play. The only noble behaviour that one can find belongs to one of the characters in the past, when he was a child, but he is no longer as he was. The hint that what once existed might be achieved again is the only faint ray of hope in a very bleak view of the human condition.

Cast

Hilda Gobbi

Vénasszony

Zoltán Papp

Tanár

Erika Bodnár

Nő

Vajda László

Apa

Zoltán Varga

Srác

Vilmos Vajdai

Haver

Dénes Ujlaki

Törzs

Károly Eperjes

Közeg

Mária Ronyecz

Előadónő

Ágnes Zsíros

Csitri

Mari Csomós

Anya

Krisztina Szalai

Bakfis