White Palms | Telescope Film
White Palms

White Palms (Fehér tenyér)

Critic Rating

(read reviews)

User Rating

  • Hungary
  • 2006
  • · 97m

Director Szabolcs Hajdu
Cast Zoltán Miklós Hajdu, Kyle Shewfelt, Gheorghe Dinică, Andor Lukáts, Oana Pellea
Genre Drama

After suffered as a boy under a sadistic Communist-era coach, champion Hungarian gymnast Miklos moves to Canada years later in search of a new start - only to find himself unwittingly perpetuating the very same cycle of abuse among his own pupils. "White Palms" is an uncommonly resonant sports drama that deals with themes of reconciliation, the pressures to succeed, and the differences in attitude between the East and the West.

Stream White Palms

US availabilities powered by JustWatch

What are critics saying?

80

The New York Times

The term "sports film" doesn't do justice to the director Szabolcs Hajdu's movie White Palms, a punishing, beautiful drama.

75

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

The film's climax, which cuts back and forth between the 16-year-old Dongo (Silas Radies, whose younger brother plays Dongo as a ten year old) making his dangerous debut with the fly-by-night Aurora Circus and the 2002 competition that takes him back to Hungary for the first time in years is nothing short of riveting.

70

Village Voice

The bulk of White Palms--and the more riveting, grim storyline--is seen in flashback to the early 1980s.

70

Variety by Eddie Cockrell

An uncommonly resonant sports drama in which a talented yet troubled gymnast comes to terms with a turbulent past.