A Free Man – The Life of Ernő Fisch

In some ways, A Free Man – The Life of Ernő Fisch grew out of To Speak the Unspeakable – The Message of Elie Wiesel, as it portrays a Jewish person from Sighet who survived the Holocaust – by fleeing and hiding in the woods. For Elek, however, this was something more than the record of a fascinating man’s extraordinary life; it is another roman à clef, as Fisch’s story bears a resemblance to her father’s.

It was Elek’s beloved husband, fellow filmmaker Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács, who suggested to her that a closer look at Fisch might prove interesting (indeed, his presence can be felt in one of the film’s very first shots). She examined Fisch more closely, visiting him time and again, hearing the same stories several times, each time maybe with a tiny detail more.

When she edited the film, she concentrated on moving briskly and clearly through Fisch’s story, indifferent to the point in time when he told something, which is always easy to note due to changed clothes and the way age edged itself into his presence. Elek made Fisch into a story – her story, in more ways than one.

– Olaf Möller