Sunshine

Istvan Szabo's epic tale of a well-to-do Hungarian Jewish family weaves three generations of familial melodrama and nearly 100 years of Hungary's troubled history into an allegorical examination of 20th century Jewish identity. That this handsome, three-hour extravaganza coheres at all is a small miracle; that it actually leaves you wanting more is a major one. Originally from a small provincial town, Sonnenschein ("Sunshine") family patriarch Emmanuel (David de Keyser) moves to Budapest in the mid-19th century and parlays a family recipe for tonic into a sizeable fortune. His children, however, have no interest in the family business: Ignatz (Ralph Fiennes) wants ...