Son of the White Mare
| Fehérlófia (Son of the White Mare) | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Marcell Jankovics |
| Produced by | Román Kunz |
| Starring | György Cserhalmi Vera Papp Mari Szemes Gyula Szabó Ferenc Szalma Szabolcs Tóth |
| Music by | István Vajda |
Production company | |
Release date | 1981 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | Hungary |
| Language | Hungarian |
Fehérlófia (The Son of the White Mare) is a Hungarian animated movie made in 1981. It is the second feature-lenght cartoon of Marcell Jankovics, and PannóniaFilm.
Synopsis
Based on the work of László Arany and ancient Hunnic and Avaric legends, "Fehérlófia" is a tribute to the old steppe peoples. There are slightly differences between Arany's work and the movie - for example, in the movie, Fehérlófia (Son of the White Mare, main protagonist) and Fanyűvő (Foods) are the same person. There are also references to ancient origin legends: Ősanya (Progenitrix), Ősapa (Forefather), and the Világfa (World Tree).
The story's main character is Fehérlófia (Son of the White Mare), who is a son with superhuman power. He is born as the third son of a horse, and he's gained his power by suckling the horse's milk. He listened to old tales, mostly about the Forefather and the end of his reign, caused by evil dragons. After the horse's death, Fehérlófia decided to search and destroy the dragons, who seized power ower the world. He met his two brothers, Kőmorzsoló (Stonepulper) and Vasgyúró (Iron Masseur), who are also have superhuman abilities. In search of the Underworld's entrance (home of the dragons), they accomodated themselves in a tree hole. One of them have stayed there every day, in order to cook mush and make rope. An ancient creature, Hétszűnyű Kapanyányi Monyók always ask them to give some mush. Kőmorzsoló and Vasgyúró refused to give him eat, so Hétszűnyű attacked them and ate the mush from their belly. But Fehérlófia stopped him by trapping his beard into the tree hole. Tried to escape, Hétszűnyű capsized the tree, and the heroes found the entrance of the Underworld.
Only Fehérlófia dared to go down there, where he found the three dragons and three princesses. After the victory, Kőmorzsoló and Vasgyúró rescued the princesses but left Fehérlófia down in the Underground. The desperated Fehérlófia found a griffin nest. A snake tried to eat the griffin chicks, but Fehérlófia stopped it. To his gratitude, the Griffin Father taking Fehérlófia to the upper world. The trip is very long so the griffin had to get some food in order to survive. Finally, Fehérlófia had to cut off his own legs to give something eat to the griffin.
After the arrival, the griffin chicks restore Fehérlófia's legs, which gave him more power. He was very angry at his brothers, but finally he forgave them. All three married with one of the princesses, and the Forefather restore his power which has lost by the the dragon's arrival.
Symbols
Beneath the movie's surreal imagery, there are many indirect references. For example, the White Mare is the Progenitrix, who was one of the ruler of the world before the dragon's arrival. The Hétszűnyű was once the king of the world, the Forefather. The character also appears as the mysterious old man who advised Fehérlófia to suckle his mother's milk in order to gain power.
The Three Headed Dragon is a symbol of the Stone Age people, and his wife, the Red Princess is the reserver of sexuality. The Seven Headed Dragon is appearing as a World War tank, symbolising all the war and terror in the world. His wife is a bit hysterical which is a direct reference to Sigmund Freud. The Twelve Headed Dragon displays nothing but a modern metropolis and the computerised world.
A recurring event in the legends all over the world when the ancient evil unleashes by the fault of human beings. This appears in Fehérlófia, when three princesses, despite the prohibition, tried to see what will be behind a locked door. The ancient evil escaped as the form of dragons.
Cast
- Directed by Marcell Jankovics
- Written by Marcell Jankovics and László György
- Animators: Edit Baksa, Marcell Jankovics, Edit Szalay, Csaba Szórády, János Uzsák, László Ujváry
- Xerox animation by Erzsébet Pintér
- Background by László Hegedűs
- Graphical designers: Marcell Jankovics, Zsolt Richly, László Hegedűs
- Music by István Vajda
- Sound engineers: Mátyás Szakály, Béla Zsebényi
- Movie cutting by Magda Hap
- Cameraman: Zoltán Bacsó
Links
- Fehérlófia at PORT.hu (in Hungarian)
- Fehérlófia – the original tale by László Arany