VIFF Review: Democracy Noir

Orban's power has been unchecked for the past 14 years

If you want to study the disintegration of democracy in Europe, Hungary is the place to be.

Since 2010, Victor Orban and his political party Fidesz has been in power. In the 2018 election Fidesz won a two-third majority, giving it the mandate to change the constitution.

Led by Orban, Fidesz dismantled rule of law, took control of publicly-funded media, and forced workers to work overtime without extra pay.

Orban confronted by sharp whistling by Szabo

This is what Democracy Noir is about, exposing how Orban fundamentally changed Hungary and how three women are trying to push back.

The documentary is directed by Connie Field, an American who lives in Berkeley, California, but her husband is Hungarian.

After the screening she explained that she has been going to Hungary every year since 2010 and it was in 2014 that she started filming what was going on; she could not get interest in her project at the time so she kept filming and only now the film has been released.

Field follows three women trying to stop Orban in their own ways: Timea Szabo an opposition politician; Nikoletta Antal, a nurse and activist; and Babett Oroszi, a journalist.

Szabo speaks fluent English and explains a lot of what is going on in English, while the other two speak Hungarian. 

When I asked her why she chose three women in the film, instead of say a mix of men and women, Field didn't have an answer... she seemed to think it was not important. But in the film, the three are very fierce and determined. There is a scene where Orban announces families won't have to pay income tax forever if they have four children, which echoes what China is trying to do without success. 

Antal is a nurse who demonstrates regularly

But apparently this policy has resulted in people willing to have kids because the state will help them pay for them, and in this regard are Orban supporters.

Like Donald Trump, Orban creates enemies of the state, and it is the LGBTQ+ community, and falsely accusing politician Szabo of being a drug dealer, as she has worked in Afghanistan and at Harvard.

Oroszi explains the rampant corruption that is happening in Hungary. The European Union poured a lot of money into Hungary to bring it up to developed country standards. However, Orban didn't use the money to improve healthcare, education and so on, but instead spent it on pet projects like a big, shiny stadium next to his country home, a rundown cottage to show his humble roots.

The contractors chosen in the bids were friends of Orban's; the bricks or stones used to build these big construction projects came from the quarries owned by Orban's father. Orban's father is building a massive complex of his own, while nurse Antal says she spent some of her own money to buy medicine for her patients who couldn't afford it.

Field was at tonight's VIFF screening

The media is completely gutted so that the vast majority are controlled by the government and they all use the same wording in their reports, while alternative media like the one Oroszi works for are few and far between; she says it's like musical chairs working for these few places that are left.

While opposition politician Szabo does well in Budapest, her party is unable to get votes in the countryside; Field explains after the screening that Orban looked to the rural areas to get votes and tailored his platform to what they wanted to hear. Sound familiar with Trump?

She says in fact Project 2025 has ideas borrowed from Orban which makes Democracy Noir required viewing not only in the United States but around the world.

What happened in Hungary also mirrors what has happened in Hong Kong, though Field notes that Orban isn't like Putin who feels the need to jail and poison opposition; Orban is so comfortable in his power that he knows he will win regardless and so opposing voices don't bother him.

And like Hong Kong, a lot of young people have left Hungary to work elsewhere in western Europe. When it's voting day and they need to go to the Hungarian consulate to cast their ballot, strangely the consulate is closed...

Democracy Noir

Directed by Connie Field

90 minutes