Synopsis
Towards the end of World War II, big cities are at the mercy of air raids and starvation. A desperate mother leaves her 13-year-old twin sons in the country at their grandmother, a cruel alcoholic. The villagers call her the Witch, she is rumoured to have poisoned her husband. Soon the twins must survive alone. They realise that the only way to cope with the inhumane world of adults and war is to become unfeeling and merciless. By freeing themselves from hunger, pain and emotion, they will be able to endure future hardships. So they begin their own series of studies. They fortify their spirits by reading the Bible and learning foreign languages. They practice to harden their bodies and minds. They ignore insults and the insidious appeals of sentiment. The twins keep a written record of all they have witnessed during the war, the Notebook, following a strict code: the prose must be free from emotion, precise, objective. The end of war will bring the worst moments of all.
János Szász