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White Palms (2006) 

Fehér tenyér (original title)
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464955/

Hungarian language with English subtitles.

White Palms (Hungarian: Fehér Tenyér) is a 2006 Hungarian film directed by Szabolcs Hajdu. It was Hungary's submission to the 79th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.

  Zoltán Miklós Hajdu  ...  Miklós Dongó  
  Kyle Shewfelt  ...  Kyle Manjak  
  Gheorghe Dinica  ...  Ferenc Szabó aka 'Puma'  
  Andor Lukáts  ...  Dad  
  Oana Pellea  ...  Mom  
  Orion Radies  ...  10-year-old Dongó  
  Dávid Horváth  ...  10-year-old Józsi  
  Dávid Vecsernyés  ...  10-year-old Bakos  
  Péter Déri  ...  10-year-old Fónyi  
  Krisztián Oltyán  ...  10-year-old Csaba  
  Illés Vér  ...  10-year-old Miki  
  Csaba Mészáros  ...  10-year-old Sztelek  
  Tibor Géza Papp  ...  10-year-old Vágányik  
  Olivér Bajnóczi  ...  10-year-old Vágó  
  Ábel Dénes  ...  10-year-old gymnast  

The traditions in East and West for training gymnasts have been long known but perhaps never more starkly portrayed than in White Palms.

Based on autobiographical elements involving his brother (and the film's star), Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu, brings us a tale of a gold medal standard gymnast, initially training at age ten under a regime of brutal corporal punishment, then later adapting with difficulty to very different attitudes in Calgary, Canada.

The white palms of White Palms are the chalky hands of the real-life gymnasts who back-flip before the camera in this largely autobiographical, melodramatic saga—no, not a sports doc—spanning two decades and continents. Hungarian writer-director Szabolcs Hajdu's third feature stars his brother, Zoltán Miklós Hajdu, as a grown-up mat prodigy who arrives in Calgary circa 2001 to coach a junior team. Literally beaten down during his Communist-era childhood by the most abusive training mentor since Full Metal Jacket's R. Lee Ermey, Miklós repeats history by smacking one of his kids. With his coaching duties stripped, Miklós is demoted to babysitting a rebellious teen talent (Olympic medalist Kyle Shewfelt, his real-life protégé). Their lightweight clash seems instantly reparable the moment they learn to communicate through their athletic feats, though helmer Hajdu understands these dramatic limitations—and, more importantly, the danger of using Olympians as thespians beyond the occasional poetry-in-motion tableau, framed from afar. 

The bulk of White Palms—and the more riveting, grim storyline—is seen in flashback to the early 1980s, as tween Miklós lives like his parents' show pony in an anxiety nightmare of nonstop humiliation, heightened here through haunting soundscapes. When the third act catches up to modern day with the inevitable arena competition, the teacher now faces both his student and his younger self, with the film cross-cutting between two white-knuckle climaxes, dismounting with an out-of-left-field Cirque du Soleil performance.

White Palms is carefully edited to juxtapose more than one edge-of-the-seat moment. Tension is skilfully built into a story that is part documentary, part drama, and casting real gymnasts adds to the feeling of authenticity. Stark contrasts in the use of colour emphasise isolation - cold bluish tones for the scenes in Hungary are punctuated only with the bright red of the girls' outfits (in a sectioned-off area of the gym). Before going to Canada, Dongo's only venture into the latter world of brightness is when he is humiliatingly punished, providing a spectacle for the girls. The soundtrack has some haunting songs, although I felt the opening music was off-key - possibly intentionally - which I found a bit off-putting.

White Palms brings some emotion-laden content to a fairly dry subject, as well as providing useful contrasts between the former Soviet bloc and the modern Western way of thinking. It might not make the mainstream market, but is a very watchable contribution from Eastern European cinema.