DARKING WAY is a narrative feature directed by Zsolt Pozsgai.
The Hungarian War of Independence failed, its thirteen leaders were sentenced to death. The European royal courts and even the Russian tsar himself protested against the executions. However, Haynau, one of the leaders of the victorious forces, did not give quarter. Among the prisoners was General Ignác Török, an artificer officer, whose life was full of secrets and legends. He never married. He had neither children, nor a family.
He devoted himself to the memory of his one-time only lover, Charlotte. Now, on the night before his execution, Charlotte arrives with her husband, Sternberg, who is a high-ranking official in the Imperial Court, and, on the orders of the Emperor, they try to save the prisoner. The woman persuaded her husband to save the love of her youth. At the same time, Haynau is uncompromising. In secret, he has the convicted prisoner and Charlotte’s daughter, who grew up in a boarding school of evil repute, brought to the castle. This is Ignác Török’s first encounter with his daughter, who was sent to the boarding school after her birth, as Charlotte was already married at the time.
The confrontation with the girl makes the general realise how his fault lead to her disgraceful fate. He does not accept the Emperor’s quarter. Török is not able to cope with the pressure of the meeting and dies of a heart attack. Only his dead body can be hung from the gallows. Passionate encounters in the storm of history. A night that decides everything. The film is based on a real story.