本片用风格化的手法展现了匈牙利三代人的怪诞故事。丑陋的士兵马洛戈瓦尼（Csaba Czene 饰）每日在长官的责骂中进行机械精确的繁琐工作，他那被压抑的生命只能通过炙烤自己身体和偷窥时自渎来缓解，某夜他将猪的尸体看做肥硕的女人，一夜癫狂之后被长官枪杀；大胃王比赛的选手巴拉托尼（Gergely Trócsányi 饰）承担在社会主义国家比赛中为国争光的重任，他呕出的比赛用食品却是国民平日所无福消受的美食；巴拉托尼与一名女子竞吃选手体格消瘦异常的儿子靠制作动物标本为生，儿子不堪照顾肥硕臃肿的父亲，致使巴拉托尼身亡，儿子回到家里，将父亲和自己做成了标本……本片获2006年特兰西瓦尼亚国际电影节最佳导演奖等多项褒奖。

本片将视角对准20世纪初，以当时欧洲社会的变化为背景。一对孪生姐妹出世后就分道扬镳，后来一个成了勾引富有男人的名媛，另一个则是身绑炸药从事恐怖活动的无政府主义者。两人不知情上了同一趟东方快车，并且跟同一个男人发生关系。当她俩终于面对面时，她们均摆脱了先前的习性，成了真正的独立女性。

Somewhere in the remote region, the war ends. In the midst of ruined cities and houses in the streets, in rural hamlets, everywhere where people still live, are children who have lost their homes and parents. Abandoned, hungry, and in rags, defenseless and humiliated, they wander through the world. Hunger drives them. Little streams of orphans merge into a river which rushes forward and submerges everything in its path. The children do not know any feeling; they know only the world of their enemies. They fight, steal, struggle for a mouthful of food, and violence is merely a means to get it. A gang led by Cahoun finds a refuge in an abandoned castle and encounters an old composer who has voluntarily retired into solitude from a world of hatred, treason, and crime. How can they find a common ground, how can they become mutual friends The castle becomes their hiding place but possibly it will also be their first home which they may organize and must defend. But even for this, the price w

二战期间，战争与死亡的阴云笼罩整个欧洲，无一国家幸免。居住在匈牙利的14岁犹太青年卡维（MarcellNagy饰），在乘车探望父亲的路上被纳粹军人拦下，随后被送往集中营。在这个非人的所在，死亡、疾病、虐待、恐惧时刻威胁着他们的生命。听取了好友凯尔泰斯的建议，卡维发誓无论如何也要活着走出这个人间地狱……本片根据2002年度诺贝尔获奖作家伊姆雷•凯尔泰兹（ImreKertész）的同名小说改编，并荣获2005年波兰Camerimage电影节金蛙奖和2005年哥本哈根国际电影节最佳摄影奖。