Abigél (1978)★ 8.6/10

HU · 290 min · April 14, 1978 · 1 seasons

• Drama

Directed by: Éva Zsurzs

Written by: Magda Szabó

Hungary during World War II. Georgina, spoiled daughter of General Vitay is not delighted when her father takes her to a religious boarding school in a smalltown. She rebels against the strict rules of the school, alienating most of her schoolmates and tries to escape from the school. When her father visits her and learns about this, he decides to tell her why she must stay in the school: he is trying to find a way to get Hungary out of the war before it claims too many lives and he is afraid that his enemies will capture and torture her, thus blackmailing him into betray his cause. Gina agrees to stay in the school, the only place where she is safe. Suddenly she grows up under the weight placed on her shoulders. Life is hard, she often feels she is treated unjustly in the strict school, and even though she makes peace with her schoolmates, often the only "person" to whom she can turn to is a statue nicknamed Abigél in the school's garden; who, according to the legend, helps those who write a message and put it in the vase in her hands. No one in the school knows who's hiding behind the statue, although many students tried to find it out, and at first Gina thinks this is only a childish tradition, but when she gets a message from Abigél, in which "she" reveals to be her father's confidante, she starts to believe, and later, when her whereabouts are revealed to the enemy and her father is captured, only the person behind Abigél can help her...