| Two Halves in Hell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Zoltán Fábri |
| Written by | Zoltán Fábri Péter Bacsó |
| Starring | Imre Sinkovits Dezső Garas Gyula Benkő István Velenczei |
| Cinematography | Ferenc Szécsényi |
| Edited by | Ferenc Szécsényi |
| Music by | Ferenc Farkas |
Production company | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 140 minutes |
| Country | Hungary |
| Languages | Hungarian Spanish subtitles |
Two Halves in Hell (Hungarian:Két félidő a pokolban) is a 1961Hungarianwar film directed and co-written byZoltán Fábri.[1] The film is based on a 1942football match between German soldiers and theirSoviet Ukrainian prisoners of war duringWorld War II, known asthe Death Match, although in the film the prisoners of war are Hungarianlabour servicemen.
The film won a critics' award at Boston Cinema Festival 1962.[2]
Two Halves in Hell was remade as the 1981 American-British filmEscape to Victory, this time with the prisoners of war representing a diverse group of countries. In addition, the 1974 filmThe Longest Yard, about anAmerican football game between prisoners and their wardens, has been compared toTwo Halves in Hell;The Longest Yard has been remade three times.[3]
It is the spring of 1944.Nazi officers want to organize afootball match forHitler's birthday, in which Germans would play againstHungarian labour servicemen of war. They call for the famous Hungarian footballer, Ónódi, and order him to organize a team. Ónódi accepts, but in turn demands extra food, a ball with which he and his team can train before the match, and asks that they be allowed to concentrate on training before the match and not work. The Germans accept all the demands, but recommend Ónódi not include anyJews in his team. However, Ónódi can't organize the team only from hislabour battalion, because only 8 out of 98 servicemen can play football. Therefore, Ónódi recruits players from the other battalion. One of the players is Steiner, who is a Jew and can't play football. He lied to Ónódi because he was afraid to die. During training the footballers subdue the Hungariangendarmerie guarding them and try to escape. They are soon recaptured and told they will now probably face thedeath penalty. However, the Hungarian officer orders the Hungarian team to still play the match. At the beginning of the match Ónódi and his team are discouraged, as the Germans easily score three goals. The Hungarians succeed in scoring one goal and the first half ends 3-1 in favour of Germany. At the interval the Hungarian commander tells the Hungarian players that they might not be executed if they lose the match. The Hungarians refuse to believe this. At the beginning of the second half they score three goals. As a result, during the match, they are executed by the Germans.