The Face of Time - POV - Aarhus Universitet

A Danish Journal of Film Studies 91
On Wind: a question of ethics
Antti Pönni
Marcell Iványi's film Wind (Hungary, 1996) begins with an image of
three women standing and looking at something off-screen left.
Instead of showing what the women see, the camera starts to pan
right. It gradually shows a flat, rural landscape (Hungarian puszta?)
with birds flying over the fields (van Gogh's crows come to mind), a
couple of houses, men pulling a small carriage, a lonely tree. Finally,
as the camera begins to approach its original position, a disturbing
scene is revealed: men with their heads covered by sacs are hanging
from wooden posts. As the camera moves on, still another man is
seen who is being prepared for hanging. His head is covered and
the hangman kicks the stool out from under the feet of the victim.
As the hanged man dies the camera keeps on moving until it
reaches its original position, showing again the three women. The
women turn and walk towards the house in the background. The
image fades to white and is replaced by another image. A photograph
by Lucien Hervé, The Three Women (Audincourt, France, 1951)
fills the screen; it was the inspiration for this film.
This description is no doubt "true" in the sense that it tells what
"happens" in the film, and perhaps even gives an idea of what the
film is "about." It is, however, insufficient because it doesn't really
capture the disturbing and powerful emotional effect of the film.
This effect lasts long after the film has ended and, indeed, in my
view actually reaches its full force only after the film has ended.
How does one grasp this emotional effect? I would like to argue
that the film could be described as taking the form of a question, or