Memoirs of a River

1882. Ruthenian, Jewish and Hungarian rafters transport wood from Máramaros on the Tisza to Szeged, to rebuild the city. Tiszaeszlár: a young girl called Solymosi Eszter disappears before the Jewish Easter, villagers spread rumours about ritual murder. The rafters find the dead body in the water, they bury it because of the heat, then they recover it on the order of the gendarmes. They go on. Soon they will be arrested and by using a variety of tortures and psychical terror they are forced to confess: it was them who helped the Jewish community in Tiszaeszlár cheat authorities. A Jewish boy is also found, who testifies against them, too. Several of them break down and they admit what they have never committed. Defence of the accused is taken by the Member of Parliament Eötvös Károly, who, through his unique capacities successfully argues for dropping the charge of religious murder. (texte officiel du distributeur)