In his film, Jari Silomäki tells the story of a man whose home is invisible in the eyes of society. The protagonist, a man named Miklos living on Budapest’s Hármashatár-hegy mountain, appears to exist outside of the social order, even though he also has strong ties to the political history of Hungary. Prime minister Orbán’s government criminalized homelessness in 2018. A constitutional amendment prohibited sleeping in parks and sanctioned penalties against offenders of the new law. Miklos became an outlaw.
Miklos had lived a quiet life in his tarp-covered home since 2009. He sold the homeless people’s magazine Fedel Nelkul on the street, collected firewood for his outdoor stove, and followed the news on the radio. His relationship with his millionaire neighbors in the Buda Hills was amiable. After the prohibition, peace was replaced with insecurity.
Silomäki met Miklos in 2017 and followed his life for the next year and a half. The film emphasizes the home as a safe haven, even if it is a hovel built from spare wood with no lock on the door.