The White King

A film from Hungary featuring British actors. As other have stated, the film suffers from a tight budget giving it a rather rushed feel. The paucity of special effects is another minus for a film set in a dystopian world of the future.The plus points are the interesting story, the unusual setting, and the central focus on the boy without there being the obligatory Hollywood clichéd ‘girlfriend’.I thought the ending was satisfactory and was far better than a ridiculous ‘and they all lived happily ever after' prosaicism.A plus point for a low budget English language DVD, there are subtitles for the HOH. That’s worth a whole star to me.

Hi, I found it interesting the Jonathan Pryce in his interview took a slam at "walls" and racism ; neither of which is in the story. It's a dystopian society that is anti technology except for the rulers. The symbol is a pitchfork. It is 1984 like but without a great script and a weak ending.

Well done.... but lacked depth in places....but I watched it again and understood it better. A movie "what if" that makes one think. Thank you.

Russian type ending with hope of funding for future sequel. Just get a different writer.

Weak plot, poor script & an utter waste of time! Please avoid😵

The story was very interesting but I was left hanging by the ending.

None of this movie works. Try as I might, there was nothing engaging about the plot, the characters, the dialog, nor the setting. The story wanders sloppily from scene to scene. There's a heavy reliance on cliched symbols of totalitarianism which reaches a level of silliness that makes it hard for the viewer to be drawn in. Nothing make the viewer connect with nor care in the least bit about the characters. This was a total waste of time.

“The White King," told through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy named Djata (Lorenzo Allchurch), is set in what appears to be the near future in the “Homeland,” an unspecified nation with the feel of a post-industrial, agrarian, Soviet style collective, where the populace are monitored by surveillance cameras. But for the most part, modern technology is absent and many buildings have fallen into disrepair.Djata’s home life is shattered when his father is taken by the authorities to an unknown destination, leaving his mother Hannah (Agyness Deyn) distraught but defiant. She’s reluctant to ask her well-connected in-laws for help, since the military-minded Col. Fitz (Jonathan Pryce) and his wife Kathrin (Fiona Shaw) have long despised her origins as an “undesirable.” Djata’s main concern is to find out what happened to his father.Husband-wife filmmakers Alex Helfrecht and Jorg Tittel use symbols and slogans that suggest insidious state control, and bring to mind Nazi Germany, austerity Great Britain, and even America under Trump. “Sacrifice today for a greater tomorrow” is a constant message of the dystopian society as workers make do with the poverty that supposedly puts them more at one with nature.“The White King” is an ambitious undertaking with a limited budget that shows in its production values. Lacking the large-scale special effects of such franchises as “The Hunger Games,” the movie possesses larger ideas than it can sustain and lacks momentum. The filmmakers have difficulty focusing on exactly what they’re trying to say, resulting in a sense of aimlessness. The story in thin, though the performances — particularly of young Mr. Allchurch — are excellent. It’s a shame the actors didn’t have stronger material to work with.Bonus materials on the unrated widescreen DVD release include a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette, and cast and directors interviews.

Based on a Hungarian novel published in 2005, this disturbing 2016 Orwellian film set in an unidentified English-speaking country in the near future is truly unsettling since there is a pervasive sense of pessimism and hopelessness permeating the whole movie, unrelenting and uncompromising. Perhaps this devastating portrayal of life lived in a brutal totalitarian regime is so distressing because it is seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy enduring a harsh upbringing in a small village where any semblance of dissent is cruelly crushed with jackboot efficiency. Through a succession of disjointed vignettes the essence of the regime is gradually revealed and although some scenes indicate the low-budget nature of the production its overall depiction of a small rural community functioning in a military dictatorship appears plausible with its casual violence, authoritarian vindictiveness and regimented rituals. Lorenzo Allchurch is excellent as the young lead Djata while Jonathan Pryce and Fiona Shaw give marvellously understated performances as his loving but duplicitous grandparents, survivors of the revolution which brought into existence the thirty-year-old state of ‘Homeland’. The tone of the film is definitely not in line with The Hunger Games movie franchise (I don’t think it ever aspired to be) and is much more akin to Michael’s Radford’s film version of 1984 with John Hurt as Winston Smith. This is a sombre and challenging piece of work; an uncomfortable (but probably an essential) and rewarding watch which will not be easily forgotten.

The whole film is shot on about three locations with only a handful of civilians. There is only one true military vehicle and maybe three cars. The ending is not a reunion as the read up would have us believe, just a quick family hug before the father is dragged off again. The loose ends left include grandfather giving grandson a gun but it’s not used in the entire film. There is no repercussions from the stabbed gang member or even a revenge attack. You never found out where the boy’s mother obtained supplies after the one and only little shop refused to serve her. The grandfather was a waste of space as he could not and did not help release of the boy’s father. The bedraggled recluse with the guard dog never helped free the boy's father either so why was he even in the film? The list is endless. Very badly made film with no closure as a true film of entertainment should deliver. My copy went straight into the garbage.

This has to be a waste of my precious time, money and yours,if you buy this nonsense. I enjoy weird genre films. This a film with no plot, no background to characters. It`s sheer boredom start to end. The world is full of equality , we all know that.

A dark depressing film. It has been likened to the hunger games but has nothing of the heroes charisma, or its fast moving inventiveness. In short - a disappointment which has been passed to the PDSA.

Good film 👍