 There
are some people who suffer from this "[Auschwitz] disease" for life,
simply because of the experience they have gone through. Another group
simply doesn’t talk about it. And a third group of people have learned
to come to terms with these events. I’m a writer, so I don’t belong to
any one of these three categories. I view my experience as being raw
material and I process it in the process of writing. And as I go along,
I get rid of this experience. You know, this is how I go on and on and
on and on, until I reach a stage, as a writer, where I will have run
out of raw material. Then it’s time to die.
Did you have any reservation about your semi-autobiographical novel, Fateless, being turned into a movie?
“In
the beginning I had a lot of reservations, I must admit, and then I
changed my mind and decided to write the screenplay myself. Then I was
able to put an end to all my concerns. So I’m happy with the outcome.”
What were your reservations?
“Of
course there were some reservations on my part because a film is a
completely different genre and I didn’t want the novel, and the
structure of the novel, to be changed in any way. So I think this is
just a basic instinct on the part of writers.”
How did you approach the screenplay in order to retain the integrity of the novel’s structure?
“Right
from the beginning onwards, it was impossible to use the same language
I used in the novel in the film as well, or to transform it or transfer
it in any way. That was simply inconceivable. In the novel I use a
rather fictitious, analytical, and kind of reluctant language which
cannot be used in film in any way. So what I tried to do was to
translate one layer of the story of the novel into the film. I wanted
to pick up the narrative and focus on a linear development in the film,
by telling the story of a person who loses his personality.”
Does the actor in the film look like the hero in the novel, or like you at that age?
“The
hero in the novel doesn’t have much in common with me. I gave him a lot
of my own personal history but we differ significantly in nature. And
the main actor in the film, who is a boy like an angel, also doesn’t
have very much in common with me.”
The
boy survives by conforming to the concentration camp system. Is our
ability to adapt a weakness as well as a strength? It was that
conformist attitude which, in a sense, allowed the Holocaust to happen,
as well enabling people like the boy to survive.
“It
always depends on your personal viewpoint and your personal angle. It
is positive in the sense that people are simply able to conform to
almost anything which helps them to survive. But you can also look at
it from a negative viewpoint by saying that people are able to conform
almost completely.”
Yes,
the ability which enables him/you to survive also brought about the
Holocaust in away, didn’t it, because people adapted to Nazism?
“Yeah,
yeah, yeah. That’s a very interesting question that an old English
writer, Mr Sterne, once put to himself: did he use his suffering and
his pain well enough? And that is also a question that people put to
themselves after having gone through a concentration camp, for example.
Does it contribute to your life, does it enrich your personality, or do
you lose a lot? That always depends on the individual.”
At
the end of the film the character expresses nostalgia for the camps. Is
this something mankind needs or is it a particular nostalgia of this
character?
“I
think it’s generally true to say this is the case and it’s nothing
unusual. If somebody was imprisoned in a labour camp for a long time,
once he’s released the feeling of freedom and liberty leaves him too
much space that he actually starts to yearn for those times when he was
captured and when he was locked up. So this nostalgia, which refers to
a written passage at the end of the novel, reflects a certain kind of
upheaval of writing on the part of this young boy. Now, he’s travelling
this world of confusion, this boy, on his way home. He’s full of
disgust and disdain because he doesn’t understand the world anymore,
and therefore he’s longing for the times when he was still locked up in
the concentration camp. We, as viewers, don’t know whether he feels
like going back because the feeling of upheaval is stirred by the heat
of the moment, or whether this is of a more general nature.”
Are these invented emotions or did you experience these feelings?
“I
personally do not remember the feelings that I had back then. But in
the novel, the hero was supposed to feel homesick in a way.”
How much did you contribute to the production of the film?
“I
was not involved in the filmmaking at all and I was not contributing to
selecting the actors either. I think the director was more apt to do
that and, honestly speaking, I’m clueless concerning the Hungarian
actors and their specific features or capabilities. So I didn’t want to
interfere either when the film was shot, because that’s always the
wrong place to be for a writer. He’s always in the way. So I stayed
away.”
Three years ago your screenplay was distributed in Vienna
with the title Step By Step. 100,000 copies of it were distributed. Was
it exactly the screenplay that was used for this film, or how much of
it was amended and edited?
“That’s exactly the one we used. The test was not amended.”
You have talked about the “Auschwitz
disease” and I wonder if you consider this to be a condition which is
curable? Also, has anything been learned from these events, do you
think?
“It
always depends. It depends on your individual personality. There are
some people who suffer from this disease for life, simply because of
the experience they have gone through. Another group simply doesn’t
talk about it. And a third group of people have learned to come to
terms with these events.”
Which group do you consider yourself to be in?
“[Laughs]
I’m a writer, so I don’t belong to any one of these three categories,
because my metabolism with reality differs significantly from the
metabolism of most of the people you normally meet. I view my
experience as being raw material and I process it in the process of
writing. And as I go along, I get rid of this experience. You know,
this is how I go on and on and on and on, until I reach a stage, as a
writer, where I will have run out of raw material. Then it’s time to
die. Just like the fate of Sisyphus, which I described at the end of my
novel called Fiasco, there is this man standing on a rock with three
gravel stones in his pocket, and he’s on his way home.”
Lajos
Koltai, the film’s director, says the boy experiences a kind of beauty
while spending time in the concentration camp. Do you agree with that?
“Yes,
I very much share this particular view, because that is part of the
whole story. Nature remains unchanged no matter what. The sun is always
there, shining. There are the trees bearing fruit. Although I’m not the
one who can pick them, they’re there. And the more beautiful nature,
the stronger is the horror and pain.”
This film is more neutral, emotionally speaking, than Hollywood films like Schindler’s List. Do you believe that this is a better way to deal with this kind of subject matter?
“Yes,
I think it really makes sense to be a bit more neutral, because if
you’re too emotional you won’t get anywhere really. People keep on
complaining, grumbling, but nobody wants to listen to them. That’s the
problem. You have to find the right format, especially if you want to
convey a message that relates to so much significant personal
experience. If you want to reach out you have to find a different way.
You have to stop complaining, you have to stop asking for people’s
compassion, because that won’t get you anywhere.”
Fateless is released May 5
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