Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

wvisser-leusden 'Szabadsag Szerelem' sets an old theme in an original setting: a love caught in the fire of revolution, against a ... water-polo scenery.Truly original is the serious dealing with some ethics of sports. This film confronts us with questions like 'am I serving my country better by participating in the revolution, or by winning a gold medal at the Olympic games?' Or: 'am I a traitor to my team when I stay in Budapest to fight the Russians?'. Another one: 'do I have a moral obligation to those team-mates for whom water-polo is all they have?'.Apart from this, 'Szabadsag Szerelem' reminds me of the famous 'Dr. Zhivago' from the mid-Sixties. However, I guess this is easy to say for someone without any emotional ties with Hungary. For those who have, I gather that watching this film still can evoke pretty strong emotions.

blu-16 I love the idea of making a movie to honor 56 and i also love making the story accessible to worldwide audiences. I think the film was executed beautifully, the sets, the costumes, the props, everything fit perfectly, so no problem there.I think the acting was also generally good, Csanyi never disappoints, Gesztesi comes through as always, etc. However, the two lead characters could have done a better job - both Fenyo and Dobo have a difficult time conveying emotions. Fenyo usually looks like a bored android and Dobo - well, whatever.The biggest problem is the inane writing. The plot is just a cheap TV-movie template, predictable, clichéd and often gratuitous. What's even worse is the dialogue. It's comic-book level, sometimes even worse. I was at the point of leaving the theatre after several badly written lines that would have looked out of place even in a high-school essay.Anyways, go see it for the pictures and for the great background story, if you are not familiar with Hungary's shining moment in 20th century history. But don't expect profound entertainment or a thrilling story.As often, history is the best playwright. Too bad the human ones didn't live up to the job.

mmhuson As an American living in Hungary, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and hope that many of my friends living in the states will see it to better understand the Hungarian culture.As always in a film, there were a few liberties taken with historical facts, but these were not huge and did not destroy the film. It was particularly timely with the riots this year in the streets of Budapest. The courage displayed and the sense of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation made the film especially poignant.A film worth seeing. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in European history, courage, and Hungarians.

arato This was a very touching film, especially for such a man as me who was only 4 years old at the 1956 revolution against the communist dictatorship supported by the Soviets. After the conquest of this revolution with the help of Soviets a tragic new dictatorship fell over my fatherland for another 33 years which was full with lying and falsification of history. It was terrible to survive this period. Unfortunately the Western countries did not give any help to overcome the Soviet aggressors, although in their feeling they sympathized with our revolution. This film gives some kind of gratification for all of these sad decades. It clearly shows that the truth and the moral victory was on the side of Hungarian revolutionists. Maybe therefore our present post-communist government is not so pleased with this film because they feel that their predecessors played a very brutal role in our history.