Later this summer, Jim Carrey will essentially play two different characters in the same film when he portrays a man with split-personality disorder in Me Myself & Irene.  In this superb new epic about the trials and tribulations of a family of Hungarian Jews, Ralph Fiennes does Carrey one better by tackling three unique (albeit less comical) roles as he plays a different part in each generation of the family.

Sunshine is as much a story of Hungary’s tumultuous political upheaval as it is a poignant tale of a family’s struggle to keep itself together.  The film covers the period between 1840 and 1989, when the Red Curtain finally came crashing down around Eastern Europe, and is broken into three hour-long sections that each show one generation of the Sonnenschein family, who have prospered throughout the late 1800s thanks to a recipe for an herbal tonic called “Taste of Sunshine” (the film’s original title) and a gold watch that is passed down from father to son in each generation.

In the first story, Fiennes (The End of the Affair) plays Ignatz Sonnenschein, a loyalist to the Austro-Hungarian Empire that rules his country.  Against the wishes of his father, Ignatz marries his cousin Valerie (Jennifer Ehle, Wilde) and shortens his last name to Sors to avoid anti-Semitism in his attempt to become a powerful judge in Budapest.  Having already alienated his father by changing the family name, and his brother Gustave (James Frain, Where the Heart Is) by simply not sharing his radical political ideas, Ignatz's career ambitions threaten his relationship with Valerie as well.

Sunshine’s second story concentrates on Adam Sors (Fiennes), the younger son of Ignatz and Valerie.  Adam is a fencer who, like his father, must deny his roots when he is forced to convert to Catholicism in order to further his competitive career.  Hungary’s national champion, Adam’s dreams of winning a gold medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics are dashed by a Nazi radio report that exposes Jews and outlines what jobs they are not allowed to keep.  Like father, like son – Adam has trouble with the ladies.  Happily married to Hannah (Molly Parker, Waking the Dead), Adam has an affair with his sister-in-law Greta (Rachel Weisz, The Mummy).

The film’s final chapter features Adam’s son Ivan (Fiennes), who was one of the few Sors to survive the Holocaust.  As a result, he’s feels jaded and guilty, and tries to avenge the past by committing himself to the new Communist regime.  But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and Ivan soon finds himself having an affair with the sultry wife (Deborah Unger, The Hurricane) of a high-ranking party official.

Sunshine comes full circle when Ivan, after being stirred by his grandma Valerie (Rosemary Harris, My Life So Far – she’s also Ehle’s real-life mother), abandons his ties to Communism and changes his name back to Sonnenschein.  Having lived through the most harrowing experiences of 20th century Europe (both World Wars, the Holocaust and the rise of Communism), Ivan seems to be the first person in his family who is prepared to accept the consequences of not hiding his roots.  The final shot of Ivan walking down a busy street in modern Budapest is beautifully executed, and a reminder of how much has changed.

Brilliantly directed by István Szabó (Mephisto), who co-wrote the haunting script with internationally acclaimed playwright Israel Horovitz, Sunshine is truly the year’s first Oscar-quality film.  It’s already won the Best Screenplay trophy at the European Film Awards, where it also nabbed top honors for Best Actor (Fiennes) and Best Cinematography (Lajos Koltai, The Legend of 1900) and was nominated for Best Picture.  Sunshine was also nominated for a mind-boggling fourteen Genie Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars), winning the prize for Best Motion Picture of the year.

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