This article was published in Vol. 4 No. 2 of our print edition.
The 2003 Hungarian film Kontroll (Control), directed by Nimród Antal, tells a tale of metro ‘control officers’ (ticket inspectors) working for BKV (Budapesti Közlekedési Vállalat, currently called BKK, Budapest Közlekedési Központ), Budapest’s public transportation system. The metro system presented in Kontroll is a fictionalized version of the actual metro system. The grit, crime, and overall chaos were exaggerated. Still, the artistic license taken in this film proves a point. Navigating and even surviving a network of subterranean tunnels is an allegory for life’s journey, in which the most unpredictable and distressing events can happen. One needs to find truth and love to even consider persevering. To discover this need to escape the darkness, one must first descend. One of the themes of Kontroll is descent, in both a literal and figurative sense. Another tale featuring this theme is La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) by Italian writer and poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). In many ways, Kontroll is a re-telling of The Divine Comedy, with a message of redemption that can be applied to the individual, and to Hungary itself.
To begin with, The Divine Comedy is not a comedy in the sense of humour. Rather, the work’s title draws from an earlier definition of ‘comedy’. In the context of Alighieri’s tale, comedy means ‘a medieval narrative that ends happily’.1 The tale begins with a nameless narrator (probably based on Alighieri himself) wandering through a desolate forest, burdened by the weight of his sin. After being assailed by wild beasts, he is rescued by the spirit of Virgil (the Roman poet who lived from 70–19 bc). Despite living as a pagan, Virgil was spared the suffering of hell due to his virtuous life, and because he died before the birth of Christ. Virgil exists in a state of limbo between heaven and hell. His task is to show the narrator the depths of hell (called the Inferno in this story) if he does not repent his sin and unbelief. Virgil also wants the narrator to accept Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and forgiveness for his sins, something Virgil could not do. The souls in the Inferno are imprisoned in different circles, according to the severity of their sins on earth. Alighieri’s vision of hell is a combination of the scant information in the Bible2 (where it is simply described as a place of eternal darkness and fire), folklore, Roman mythology, and his own conjectures (such as souls being punished by demons for specific sins). Each circle is worse than the last. The lowest circle of hell houses the Devil, who is imprisoned, yet still causes chaos on earth until the Day of Judgment by God.
After exploring every horror of the Inferno, Virgil guides the narrator to Purgatory. This is ‘a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God’s grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven.’3 Here, the narrator observes those who repented shortly before death, and exist in a gloomy state before they are fully purified of their sins and allowed to enter heaven. At last, Virgil and the narrator arrive at the gates of Paradise, or heaven. Virgil takes his leave here. The narrator is then guided by the soul of a deceased woman he loved from afar, Beatrice. As in the Inferno, Paradise is also divided into levels, this time according to the merits of individuals’ works and souls while alive. All have entered Paradise by believing in Jesus Christ and being forgiven by Him. Beatrice finally leads the narrator to God Himself, whose love and glory cannot be described. The narrator then returns to earth, a changed man who has found God.
The framework of Kontroll follows a similar trajectory to The Divine Comedy. At the film’s beginning, Nimród Antal gives a disclaimer that the film’s story is entirely fictional. A hooded figure in black, known as the Shadow (portrayed by Győző Szabó), has been pushing passengers to their deaths in front of incoming trains; the BKV is in fear and confusion. Like the narrator in The Divine Comedy, the protagonist of Kontroll, Bulcsú (portrayed by Sándor Csányi), also lives in a hopeless state. Instead of wandering in a dark forest as in The Divine Comedy, Bulcsú is only seen in the metro system, a place of perpetual darkness, violence, and grief. Bulcsú performs his duties without joy. When the passengers disrespect him, he responds in kind. Bulcsú never leaves the metro—he eats there, sleeps there, and wanders amongst the platforms after closing time. Béla, the cantankerous but warm-hearted train conductor, is one of the few to whom Bulcsú turns for genuine friendship and advice. Bulcsú’s only pastime in the metro is to race along the tracks at night (a game called ‘railing’) when there are no passengers present. One evening, Bulcsú is challenged to a game of railing by Gonzo, an arrogant rival (portrayed by Balázs Mihályfi). Bulcsú wins the race, but both men narrowly escape being killed by an oncoming train.
As the film progresses, Bulcsú befriends Szofi (portrayed by Eszter Balla), a mysterious young woman in a bear costume. Her days consist of endlessly riding the metro and chatting with passengers. She never pays her fare. Since Bulcsú is enchanted and intrigued by Szofi, he never fines her. As the number of murders mounts, so do tensions among the staff. Laci, a worker with unrecognized emotional and/or psychological disorders, kills a passenger in a fit of rage. Another worker named Muki (portrayed by Csaba Pindroch) is unreliable and exhausted on account of his narcolepsy. He berates and argues with passengers. A senior member of the team, known only as ‘the Professor’ (portrayed by Zoltán Mucsi), tries in vain to maintain the sanity of his team, but to no effect. Bulcsú chases a chronic fare-evader and witnesses him being pushed to his death by the Shadow. As the surveillance camera did not film the Shadow, Bulcsú becomes a suspect. Bulcsú’s oddly antisocial, continual presence in the metro, even after hours, also leads the metro authorities to suspect him. After a tense meeting with his superior, Bulcsú quits in a rage. However, he remains in the metro, and attends an illegal, after-hours costume party. Amidst the debauchery, he apprehends the killer. After a chase along the tracks, the Shadow is seemingly killed by an oncoming train. Relieved, Bulcsú finally leaves the metro and steps into the bright daylight. Szofi, now dressed as a fairy, accompanies him.
‘Navigating and even surviving a network of subterranean tunnels is an allegory for life’s journey’
Both The Divine Comedy and Kontroll are tales of lost men. Through their despair and loss of direction, both men have become lost in subterranean worlds they cannot escape on their own. While Bulcsú is not literally trapped in a supernatural underworld, he feels that he does not belong in the world above, the world of the living. The passengers and control officers of the film are rarely happy, besides feeble attempts at sarcastic or sardonic jokes. Nearly every character is chained to the metro and is unhappy there; those who do not want to be there must fulfil their purpose before leaving. When officers are injured during the film, their wounds remain. They never heal, as if they are already dead and existing in hell. The passengers do not want to use the metro, but otherwise, they cannot reach their destinations. They pay their fare (when they must), then they are gone. In a similar manner to Purgatory in The Divine Comedy, the passengers must serve a short time in the darkness before being freed. The control officers do not have this luxury. Like the denizens of hell, the underworld is their only existence. Furthermore, several of the control officers’ personalities reflect the various sins in The Divine Comedy. Laci’s rage (initially internalized) and subsequent murder of a passenger reflect both the sullenness and anger of the River Styx in the fifth4 circle of hell. Laci’s sin also mirrors the fate of those within Dante’s seventh circle of hell, reserved for those who commit violence against a neighbour. While Laci was removed from the metro system and likely imprisoned or institutionalized, he would have been confined to a river of blood in the seventh circle.5
Two characters from the film resemble Virgil. The first is the Professor. Like Virgil, he is wise and well meaning, but unable to ascend into the light. Both guide the protagonist with their wisdom, and neither receive substantial punishment. The second is Béla, the former train operator above ground, and Szofi’s father. After crashing a train while drunk, Béla can only find employment as a metro operator. Since Béla’s taste for alcohol was more a weakness than an active desire to sin, Béla suffers no further punishment underground. Just as Virgil’s pagan beliefs reflected the culture in which he lived, neither he nor Béla are made to live an afterlife of eternal torture, and instead reside in a state of limbo. Béla bears similarities to Charon, the ferryman who rows the deceased to their eternal destination in Ancient Greek mythology. Like Béla, Charon is an unkempt, older man with a beard. Both figures transport unhappy souls across a desolate underworld. Passengers in both cases must pay a fare.6 Virgil himself wrote of Charon in The Aeneid. He is again referenced in The Divine Comedy as the ferryman who guides visitors through the underworld.
Muki also bears similarities to the sinners of The Divine Comedy. Though he exhibits rage, his temper does not lead to murder as Laci’s did. Muki’s most consistent sins are lust and gluttony. Muki makes lewd advances on a female who rejects him. Later, he fondles another female passenger during an altercation. In The Divine Comedy, those who gave in to lust are condemned to be blown by strong winds for eternity.7 Muki’s gluttony is evidenced by his insatiable appetite for fast food served in the metro station and his habit of eating like a pig. The souls of gluttons are condemned to wallow in filth for eternity in The Divine Comedy. Though in both works many of the secondary characters suffer unfortunate fates, the ending for the two protagonists appears broadly positive.
The narrator finds redemption in The Divine Comedy, but Bulcsú’s fate in Kontroll is more ambiguous. Did he truly leave the metro? Did he even survive? As the Shadow’s identity is never revealed, did Bulcsú’s superiors correctly assume he was the Shadow? Did he have a split personality? Did Bulcsú stop the murderer, but lost his life in the process? His taking the escalator to the outside world could be a metaphor for his death and ascension to heaven. In this case, Szofi may not have been by Bulcsú’s side at the film’s conclusion. Instead, her appearance could symbolize an angel guiding him to paradise, with the meaning of her name, wisdom, specifically divine wisdom, reinforcing her role as a guiding light to Bulcsú. Kontroll’s ending scene is reminiscent of Beatrice leading The Divine Comedy’s narrator to paradise. Whatever the viewer’s interpretation, the theme of love, specifically the love of a virtuous woman guiding a tormented man to light, is the same.
Twenty years on, Kontroll is still relevant. The metro system is still in use and services millions of people. The Budapest transport authority estimates that 750,000 passengers use the metro every day.8 While there is still a risk of encountering crime and unsanitary conditions in metro stations, improvements in infrastructure have reduced this risk. Additional improvements were made between 2017 and 2023. Currently, there are plans to build a fifth metro line to facilitate travel to and from the suburbs.9 This feat of human engineering, a link between the old and new Hungary, is as complex as a wandering human soul. Both Bulcsú and the narrator of The Divine Comedy lived as examples of facing trauma and darkness and emerging as victors. As history continues, Hungary still goes on. Although she has been through great darkness, she has emerged and will keep going.
NOTES
1 ‘Comedy Definition & Meaning’, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comedy, accessed 8 April 2024.
2 Walter A. Elwell, ‘Hell Meaning—Bible Definition and References’, Bible Study Tools, www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/hell/, accessed 16 April 2024.
3 ‘Purgatory Definition & Meaning’, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purgatory, accessed 16 April 2024.
4 Guy P. Raffa, ‘Circle 5, Cantos 7–9’, Danteworlds, https://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle5.html, accessed 16 April 2024.
5 Guy P. Raffa, ‘Circle 7, Cantos 12–17’, Danteworlds, https://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle5.html, accessed 16 April 2024.
6 Renee O’Brien, ‘The Final Journey: Crossing the Styx’, Hellenic Museum (2017), www.hellenic.org.au/post/the-final-journey-crossing-the-styx, accessed 16 April 2024.
7 ‘9 Circles of Hell (Dante’s Inferno)’, History Lists (2012), https://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html, accessed 16 April 2024.
8 ‘BKK Fact Sheet’, BKK.hu, https://bkk.hu/en/about-bkk/about-us/bkk-in-numbers/, accessed 17 April 2024.
9 Barbara Bene, ‘New Metro Line a Priority Investment Project in Budapest’, Hungary Today (2022), https://hungarytoday.hu/new-metro-line-a-priority-investment-project-in-budapest/, accessed 17 April 2024.
