While exquisitely filmed, "The Red and the White" lacks any kind of traditional story, much less a beginning and an end to its tale. In fact, the movie consists of a series of skirmishes between the well-outfitted and armed White armies and the remnants of the Red armies during the Russian Civil War in 1919. A good deal of this involves the hunting and executing of military prisoners, first sorting them into Russians and foreigners, before ordering them to take off their shirts which can either be considered a symbol of dehumanization or a sign that beneath a uniform, we are all the same. Like volunteers and insurgents in the Spanish Civil War and the current Gulf Wars, right or wrong, they see a struggle that transcends simple nationality. In this case, it is Hungarian soldiers who have traveled to Russia to aid the Red armies, hoping that their actions will help the revolution which in return will spur change in their own country. They might be glad to know their actions will indeed have an effect on the future of their country, if not exactly what they intended. Not only did Hungary not get the brand of socialism they wanted for it, but there were also the Soviet tanks of 1956.