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The year 1956 is synonymous with triumph and heartbreak for most Hungarians. As a result of the 1956 Hungarian Uprisings, the now landlocked nation of Hungary became the first state in the eastern bloc to shrug off Soviet rule. But 12 days later, the Soviets returned and a bloody battle ensued. Nearly a quarter of the nation’s population left the country as refugees. Given all that transpired, it is easy to forget that 1956 was also the year in which the legendary Hungarian water polo team defeated the Soviet Union in the semifinals of what many have called the bloodiest water polo match in Olympic history. In this triumphant documentary director Colin Keith Gray (The Sibs) carefully retells the story of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 through the eyes of freedom fighters as well as athletes from the Russian and Hungarian water polo teams. Gray juxtaposes images of Hungary’s unrivaled water polo reign with powerful footage of the uprising, from a young nurse proudly waving a Hungarian flag with the red star cut out of the center to the brutal political executions by the Soviet regime. In the midst of the upheaval, both Hungary and the Soviet Union sent their water polo teams to the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, and the world watched as two teams with radically different points of view met in the same pool for the water polo semi-finals. The resulting bloodbath gave new meaning to the Russian saying: “Water polo is not ping-pong.” — Tribeca Film Festival 2006 program.

Director: Colin K. Gray, Megan Raney, Writer: Colin K. Gray, Narrator: Mark Spitz

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