Overview
A harrowing glimpse into the chaos of war and the human condition amidst conflict.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Graphic
- austere
- disorienting
- harrowing
- serious film study
- arthouse cinema evening
What critics said
Critics broadly admire its black-and-white widescreen compositions and choreographed camera movements, while recognizing that its impersonal, fragmented anti-war method can be exceptionally difficult and cold.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Characters are repeatedly introduced by the camera and then abruptly disappear or die, preventing sustained identification with either Reds or Whites.
Long, elegant movements and anamorphic widescreen compositions organize executions, marches, dances, and shifting control of the landscape.
The monastery and field hospital repeatedly change hands while captives are executed, nurses are coerced, and soldiers walk into overwhelming force.
Neither side has a coherent plan, both use coercion and executions, and the film withholds the explanatory conventions of patriotic combat narratives.
Films like The Red and the White, and why
Ivan's Childhood
formally rigorous anti-war drama using austere compositions and impersonal violence to reject heroic identification
Come and See
black-and-white historical war cinema with fatalistic atmosphere and stylized visual control
The Battle of Algiers
politically charged european art cinema examining ideological violence through abstraction and emotional distance
The Ascent
slow, choreographed anti-war filmmaking that foregrounds institutional power over individual heroism
Movie Details
- Director
- Miklós Jancsó
- Release Date
- 1967-11-03
- Runtime
- 90 min
- Rating
- 7.0 / 10 (93)
Cast
- József Madaras
- Tibor Molnár
- András Kozák
- Juhász Jácint
- Anatoli Yabbarov
- Sergey Nikonenko
- Mikhail Kozakov
- Tatyana Konyukhova
- Krystyna Mikołajewska
- Viktor Avdyushko
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Kanopy
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Red and the White about?
- A formally audacious Hungarian-Soviet Civil War drama turns shifting battle lines, ritualized cruelty, and sudden death into a chilling portrait of war's arbitrariness.
- What is The Red and the White like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Red and the White as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is The Red and the White violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Red and the White as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Red and the White?
- Critics broadly admire its black-and-white widescreen compositions and choreographed camera movements, while recognizing that its impersonal, fragmented anti-war method can be exceptionally difficult and cold.
- Which films are like The Red and the White?
- Films with a similar feel include Ivan's Childhood, Come and See, The Battle of Algiers, and The Ascent.
- How long is The Red and the White?
- The Red and the White runs 90 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Red and the White?
- In United States, The Red and the White streams on Kanopy.
