Nostalgia Kinky

Deaf Crocodile continues releasing some of the most significant world cinema releases, with animator Marcell Jankovics’ stylistically stunning Song of the Miraculous Hind (2002) available as a 4K UHD/Blu-ray collection. Containing the Hungarian Film Archive’s celebrated 4K restoration of the film, Deaf Crocodile’s release is an A/V knockout heightened by a couple of essential supplements.

Before it closed in 2015, after more than 65 years in existence, Hungary’s largest animation studio, Pannonia Film Studio, was among the world’s most respected. Song of the Miraculous Hind is a product of the studio’s great work. Absolutely bursting with color and music, Jankovics’ film is staggeringly ambitious. Scripted by Jankovics, Song of the Miraculous Hind spans literal centuries, as it navigates Hungary’s history from mythology to early Christianity.

Beautiful, haunting, and bold, Song of the Miraculous Hind was designed with a children’s history classroom in mind. Indeed, that’s apparently where it has been seen the most. Video essayist Evan Chester points out that this film is often overlooked by even Jankovics’ enthusiasts because it’s viewed as an Educational film in Hungary above all else. All of its other, more obvious cinematic attributes aside, it certainly does work as a cultural and history lesson. Unless you are already steeped in Hungarian folklore, history, and tradition, you’ll learn much watching this, I most definitely did.

To outsiders like myself, Song of the Miraculous Hind is a lot to process narratively. Luckily, the film is visually stunning enough to ensure that even the most culturally uninterested can enjoy. Hallucinatory and endlessly surreal, Jankovics manages to create both a learning experience as well as a work you can just totally zone out with. Using older animation techniques, this doesn’t look like a film from this century. In fact, I was surprised to see when it was made, as I just assumed it was from decades earlier. That’s a compliment, btw.

Along with all the history and color, the coolest thing about Song of the Miraculous Hind is absolutely the killer score and soundtrack from Levente Szörényi, one of Hungary’s most beloved and famed musical figures. His work here is lyrical, experimental, and very exciting. Don’t let the idea that this is shown in classrooms throw you off, as this is a very vibe-worthy film to crank up and tune in/out to.

Deaf Crocodile’s 4K UHD is demo-worthy honestly, looking and sounding absolutely stunning. The included Blu-ray is from the same restoration, and it also looks splendid. Extras-wise, we get the aforementioned essay, and a new commentary, both of which provide much useful information, and a lengthy interview with Szörényi and animator Piroska Martsa by Deaf Crocodile’s Dennis Bartok.

Song of the Miraculous Hind is a complicated and complex film, but it doesn’t have to be. The most impressive aspect of the film to me is how simultaneously serious and trippy it is. Thinking back on the types of films I used to watch as a Gen-X kid here in the States, we never got anything like Song of the Miraculous Hind.
It’s our loss.

-Jeremy Richey, May 2026-

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