Abandoned

October 1960. Áron's happy years of childhood ended when his mother went blind, his parents divorced and his father placed his son, regarding him a hopeless character, in an institution. Many of the 52 boys who were living there had lost their parents in 1956. The educational principles of the institution are determined by the sadistic Csapó: cruel discipline, permanent control, humiliation, unexpected rewards. Nyitrai, the maths teacher, spent three years in prison due to his participation in the revolution, and it is he who behaves like a father to Áron. After a cruel initiation Áron finds friends among the boys, and at Christmas five of them make a break from the institution. The ice of the river breaks under Attila, the others are caught, and taken back to the institution. As a punishment, Áron is transferred into an institution of even worse restrictions. (Budapest Film)