Ilona

Overview

The trial of Ilona Tóth and her co-defendants, a case of post-’56 reprisals, received widespread publicity and remains a subject of controversy to this day. According to the charges, the young medical student abused her professional position to execute an innocent man with particular cruelty. Despite the confessions, the absurdity of the trial’s details and the numerous contradictions suggest that the young people sentenced to death were victims of a show trial. In this true-crime film, using modern investigative methods, we explore the methods of reprisal, the cruelty of show trials, and why those in power needed this show trial, as well as how they sought to discredit the revolution in the eyes of international public opinion through it.