Movie review: 'Bank Ban'
By John von Rhein
Tribune Music Critic
3 stars (out of 4)
One of Hungary's best-tended cultural secrets is "Bank Ban," the rip-snorting Romantic melodrama by
Ferenc Erkel that is considered that country's national opera. It is so beloved that it has opened every
season at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest since the theater's founding in 1884. Yet the difficulty of
assembling casts of singers fluent in Hungarian has kept it virtually unknown outside its native land.
All that could change now that director Csaba Kael's visually sumptuous and musically honorable film
version has hit the big screen internationally, with a DVD and soundtrack album in the pipeline. The prolific
composer and conductor Erkel all but invented Hungarian opera, drawing on native folk sources and Italian
musical influences to create this patriotic melodrama of love, lust, intrigue and violated honor. "Bank Ban"
has a grand, tragic sweep and a colorful, shrewdly crafted score, stuffed with rousing choruses, arias and
ensembles Giuseppe Verdi might have envied.
An archaic term designating noble rank, "ban" refers to the status of Bank (Janos B. Kiss), a viceroy to
Gertrud (Eva Marton), evil queen of Meran in 13th-century Hungary. While Bank is off tending to the
oppressed peasants, Gertrud's corrupt brother Otto (Denes Gulyas) attempts to seduce Bank's beautiful,
beloved wife Melinda (Andrea Rost). Bank later is duped into believing himself betrayed, and his rejection
drives Melinda to madness and suicide.
This is one filmed opera that looks as colorful as it sounds. First-time director Csaba lured the
Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind") back to his
homeland to bring Erkel's 1861 opera to cinematic life. Zsigmond's restless lens prowls the corridors of
actual Gothic castles, bathing great banquet halls with the golden glow of candles and torches. The images
- a horse-drawn carriage tearing through a moonlit landscape, a "mad scene" buffeted by howling winds
and shards of lightning - are never merely picturesque but resonate deeply with the drama's passions. Lyric
Opera-goers will recognize two familiar "house" divas in the leading soprano roles. Marton brings her usual
combination of powerful spinto vocalism and stridency to Gertrud; her wild and woolly top notes only make
the queen's malevolence more vivid. As appealing a presence on screen as she is on stage, Rost sings
with bright, fluid tone, unfailing sensitivity and disarming pathos. Kiss brings heroic fervor and clarion
urgency to the title role, while Gulyas makes an appropriately slimy Otto. The sounds emitted by the singers
on screen only occasionally match those on the soundtrack - a minor annoyance.
That said, "Bank Ban" is an operatic rarity worth catching even if you don't happen to be an opera fan. Sung
in Hungarian, with English subtitles.
"Bank Ban"
Runs Friday to May 8 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. The 7:30 p.m. Saturday screening is
sponsored by WFMT-FM 98.7 and will include an interview with director Kael. The 6 p.m. Sunday screening
will include a discussion with Rost, Kael and critic Andrew Patner, preceded by a 5 p.m. reception.
Screening, reception and discussion: $45 for general public, $35 for Film Center members. Screening and
discussion: $20 for general public, $15 for Film Center members. Reception only: $25 for general public,
$20 for Film Center members. Tickets to all other screenings are $8 and $4. Phone: 312-846-2600.
By John von Rhein
Tribune Music Critic
3 stars (out of 4)
One of Hungary's best-tended cultural secrets is "Bank Ban," the rip-snorting Romantic melodrama by
Ferenc Erkel that is considered that country's national opera. It is so beloved that it has opened every
season at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest since the theater's founding in 1884. Yet the difficulty of
assembling casts of singers fluent in Hungarian has kept it virtually unknown outside its native land.
All that could change now that director Csaba Kael's visually sumptuous and musically honorable film
version has hit the big screen internationally, with a DVD and soundtrack album in the pipeline. The prolific
composer and conductor Erkel all but invented Hungarian opera, drawing on native folk sources and Italian
musical influences to create this patriotic melodrama of love, lust, intrigue and violated honor. "Bank Ban"
has a grand, tragic sweep and a colorful, shrewdly crafted score, stuffed with rousing choruses, arias and
ensembles Giuseppe Verdi might have envied.
An archaic term designating noble rank, "ban" refers to the status of Bank (Janos B. Kiss), a viceroy to
Gertrud (Eva Marton), evil queen of Meran in 13th-century Hungary. While Bank is off tending to the
oppressed peasants, Gertrud's corrupt brother Otto (Denes Gulyas) attempts to seduce Bank's beautiful,
beloved wife Melinda (Andrea Rost). Bank later is duped into believing himself betrayed, and his rejection
drives Melinda to madness and suicide.
This is one filmed opera that looks as colorful as it sounds. First-time director Csaba lured the
Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind") back to his
homeland to bring Erkel's 1861 opera to cinematic life. Zsigmond's restless lens prowls the corridors of
actual Gothic castles, bathing great banquet halls with the golden glow of candles and torches. The images
- a horse-drawn carriage tearing through a moonlit landscape, a "mad scene" buffeted by howling winds
and shards of lightning - are never merely picturesque but resonate deeply with the drama's passions. Lyric
Opera-goers will recognize two familiar "house" divas in the leading soprano roles. Marton brings her usual
combination of powerful spinto vocalism and stridency to Gertrud; her wild and woolly top notes only make
the queen's malevolence more vivid. As appealing a presence on screen as she is on stage, Rost sings
with bright, fluid tone, unfailing sensitivity and disarming pathos. Kiss brings heroic fervor and clarion
urgency to the title role, while Gulyas makes an appropriately slimy Otto. The sounds emitted by the singers
on screen only occasionally match those on the soundtrack - a minor annoyance.
That said, "Bank Ban" is an operatic rarity worth catching even if you don't happen to be an opera fan. Sung
in Hungarian, with English subtitles.
"Bank Ban"
Runs Friday to May 8 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. The 7:30 p.m. Saturday screening is
sponsored by WFMT-FM 98.7 and will include an interview with director Kael. The 6 p.m. Sunday screening
will include a discussion with Rost, Kael and critic Andrew Patner, preceded by a 5 p.m. reception.
Screening, reception and discussion: $45 for general public, $35 for Film Center members. Screening and
discussion: $20 for general public, $15 for Film Center members. Reception only: $25 for general public,
$20 for Film Center members. Tickets to all other screenings are $8 and $4. Phone: 312-846-2600.