White Palms
Szabolcs Hajdu


As a child, Miklos Dongo was a promising gymnast in Hungary but, somehow, he ends up coaching Canada’s medal hope for the 2002 world gymnastics championship.
It is interesting to look at a film like this and marvel at all the ways that Hollywood would have mucked it up.
Award-winning Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu is not interested in a rah-rah tale of athletic triumph and personal redemption.
Instead, he presents viewers with a non-linear story with portraits of Dongo at ages 10 (Orion Radies), 13 (Silas Wind Radies) and 32 (Zoltan Miklos Hajdu).
The harsh training conducted by coach Ferenc (Gheorghe Dinica) robs Dongo of the ordinary joys of childhood. At 13, the unhappy gymnast runs away to join the circus. As a coach, he has to find a way to connect with his trainees and come to terms with his past.
There is a telling bit of dialogue by Ferenc when the big top folks come by the gym to look for a replacement trapeze artiste: “Hey! This is not a circus! Hey! They are not monkeys!”
But the director juxtaposes the gymnastics competition with the trapeze performance, brilliantly linking the two scenes through the use of music and sound.
It is not always clear whether you are looking at the spectacle of a competition or a death-courting circus act, or both.
But there is no doubt that Hajdu has crafted a compelling and surprising film.
(ST)