At its core the black-and-white, formally radical Satantango is a straightforward tale: two false messiahs and secret police collaborators rob the residents of an impoverished village in a despicable manner – by convincing them that losing their modest possessions will help them lead a better life. Hungarian maverick Béla Tarr’s imposing seven-and-a-half-hour magnum opus uses stunningly composed long takes that vividly depict various forms of human decline and amplify the sense that fulfilling one’s fate is inevitable. Susan Sontag best described this masterful work of modern cinema when she called it “devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours. I’d be glad to see it every year for the rest of my life.”