The Witness 1969

József Pelikán, Ferenc Kállai, a single father who once took part in Hungary’s wartime underground communist movement, now works as a dike-reeve. He reconnects with an old ally from those years, Zoltán Dániel, Zoltán Fábri, who has become a government official and spends his days fishing along the Danube near the dike. When Dániel slips into the water, Pelikán leaps to his rescue and brings him home, where the two friends reminisce about the past.

Their reunion is interrupted by the ÁVH, who arrive after a “serious anonymous report” accuses Pelikán of slaughtering a pig for food. In a desperate bid to protect him, Dániel tries to demonstrate how Pelikán once hid him during the purges, but his performance unintentionally exposes a basement that houses the hidden pork. This discovery marks the turning point: Pelikán is taken away to prison, though he is later released by higher command.

Comrade Virág, Lajos Őze, projects himself as benevolent and assigns Pelikán a string of improbable roles—first as the CEO of a swimming pool, then of an amusement park, and finally of an orange research institute. Pelikán, who is described as ideologically under-educated, struggles spectacularly in each assignment, yet he continues to visit the prison and eventually, through a mix of persistence and strange luck, finds success with the orange project and is celebrated.

All along, the arrangement is a calculated scheme to force Pelikán to serve as the witness in a show trial against his old friend Zoltán Dániel, who has fallen out of favor with the regime. Pelikán is molded to fit the era’s stereotype of a “Hungarian worker, 1950,” the ideal witness the authorities want. Before the trial, he is handed a pre-written testimony to memorize, but as the moment of truth arrives—before the judge, the accused Virág, and other top Communist leaders—Pelikán breaks with the script and speaks the truth. In retaliation, he is sent back to prison.

Awaiting execution, the political climate shifts after Stalin’s death, and Pelikán is released. He later encounters Virág again, this time on a tram; Virág has lost the power and influence he once wielded, a stark contrast to the man who once dominated the story.