I absolutely love some stuff about it, sure. Though, I respect it a great deal obviously enough to say what I said about it previously.

>I managed to make it to the
>end... only by watching numerous parts of the movie in fast
>forward (until the dialogue started up again). Maybe this was
>a disservice to the enjoyment of the movie as it was intended,
>but it was honestly the ONLY way I could have finished it.

Tarr has expressed that he wants time to be a character in his movies. He didn't disagree with the sentiment that this movie felt dreamy. I think watching it on fast-forward lessens and negates the effects of what Tarr was trying to achieve.

>But aside from that, it was hours of nothing happening.

Some plot macro-events: Janos' worldview being destroyed, Auntie Tunde making moves, the riots. Stuff happened. The lack of dialogue and long takes of people eating or walking can mislead one into thinking nothing happened.

>- Was the mob targeting the rich, the bourgeois, those with
>political connections, or what? I don't get why they attacked
>the hospital, or killed Janos's uncle.

They rioted out of desperation as a result of being unemployed and their dire situation. As to their targets, the only thing we know for sure was the hospital assult. What was the explosion in town? I don't know. They attacked who they attacked because of the prince's rhetoric or other related-literature/thought that must've been circulating.

>- What was with the brightly-lit, nude, old guy that dispels
>the mob? Why did he have such an impact on them?

It broke their riot mentality. It made them realize what they were doing. I'm sure they all thought, "What? Jump the old man? Fuck that. Fuck this." They must've been thinking: how is this shit we're doing helping us? These people didn't do anything to us. Also, while it's on the other end of the spectrum, it's like being stopped in your tracks by a kid when you're acting a fool or something. That's what I got out of it. Even more basic than that, though, the image of the old man was a visceral thing. Kind of like the whale or the sun.

>- Why did the man accost Janos when he was passing through the
>square next to the whale while on his errands? Was he an
>obvious outsider to the mob?

I don't remember what the man said to him.

>- Similarly, why was his name on the list at the end? Wasn't
>the army's (?) list supposed to be for people who were in the
>mob, and not ordinary citizens?

Don't know. Aunt Tunde and the police captain were shady to me. I think they were taking preemptive measures for any possible resistance. Janos and Gyuri weren't necessarily eager to help Tunde in the beginning. Or, there's something obvious that I'm missing.

>- Why did it end with Janos institutionalized? I was on the
>verge of falling asleep at that point so I may have missed
>something important in understanding the ending.

This isn't the kind of movie to watch before bed! Seriously, though, Janos was innocent, naive, or whatever in the beginning. Happy-go-lucky. The hospital assault, eavesdropping on the prince, the explosion, Uncle Lajos' murder, and going on the run (helicopter) messed him up bad. Not to mention we don't know if the guys who caught him did anything to him.