The Vicious Circle

Set in Hungary before war--told in flashback 1916 or so--franz josef blame murder on jew when rich baron wants to buy up their land for oil jewish angle obscured

"The Vicious Circle" is a very good low budget film, though it's obscure and isn't filled with action....so it's a film some might not watch...which is a shame. The story is told as a flashback from one of the court workers. He relays a case he was witnesses to long, long ago in Hungary. It was probably set around 1916 or earlier, as Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef's portrait is on the courtroom wall.

It seems that a local Baron wanted a piece of land, but the homeowners wouldn't sell. He was rich and powerful...they were just poor Jews in a time when they would have been at the bottom of the social rung. Pretty soon it's apparent that the Baron has fixed the case against the men...and the prosecutors are clearly working for him and perjuring themselves. What follows are witnesses after witnesses who have been coached or threatened or paid off to testify against the men. Can these poor Jewish farmers stand a chance?

While I wish the film had focused more on the religious bigotry, it was an extremely well crafted and interesting film about abuse of power. Well worth seeing and very intelligently written.