Hukkle 2003

The narrative unfolds in a seemingly ordinary village in Hungary, starting with an old man who suffers from persistent hiccups, casually sitting near a can of milk outside his home. As the story progresses, the viewers are treated to a tapestry of daily life. We catch sight of a young man maneuvering his horse and cart, laden with milk cans, yet his attention drifts toward a girl basking in the sun instead of attending to the cans. The backdrop is punctuated with other vivid scenes: a threshing machine at work, a cat that succumbs to poison, and an old lady who unknowingly kills a mole while ploughing, offering it to her dog afterward. Additionally, there’s a farmer who guides his pig to a sow for fertilization, watched with satisfaction by its owners as the pigs breed. Meanwhile, the men of the village indulge in a game of bowling to pass the time, and through it all, the old man continues to grapple with his hiccups.

Despite the village’s picturesque exterior, there is an undercurrent of mystery. Scenes unfold depicting women exchanging bottles filled with inscrutable liquids, suggesting something sinister beneath the surface. Mysteriously, men die, and the villagers come together, carrying a chest to comfort the grieving widow. The postwoman appears intermittently, delivering pensions from the deceased mothers, and life, as bizarre as it seems, resumes its rhythm following each burial.

The plot thickens when a fisherman mysteriously vanishes, prompting a vigilant local policeman to investigate the disappearance. His relentless pursuit leads him to a shocking revelation at the film’s conclusion when he notices the mailman arriving with a package meant for the widow.

While the film boasts (almost) zero dialogue, it cleverly weaves together the happenings surrounding the villagers, the animals, and the very plants that populate their landscape, leaving viewers to ponder their significance. However, in a finale filled with unexpected twists, a wedding emerges where a few girls sing an old folk song, ultimately uncovering the murder mystery that lurked just beneath the surface.