Music Box is a 1989 American crime drama film that tells the story of a Hungarian-American immigrant who is accused of having been a war criminal. The plot revolves around his daughter, an attorney, who defends him, and her struggle to uncover the truth. The film was written by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Costa-Gavras. It stars Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat and Lukas Haas. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival. It is loosely based on the real life case of John Demjanjuk and also on Joe Eszterhas' own life. Eszterhas learned at age 45 that his father, Count István Esterházy, had concealed his wartime involvement in Hungary's Fascist and militantly racist Arrow Cross Party. According to Eszterhas, his father "organized book burnings and had cranked out the vilest anti-Semitic propaganda imaginable." After this discovery, he severed all contact with his father, never reconciling before István's death. According to Joe Eszterhas's book, "Hollywood Animal", he wrote the screenplay for the Music Box almost ten years before finding out the truth about his father. He even gave his father a copy of the script to read before the movie was made, never thinking that his life would soon reflect his art. Plot Hungarian immigrant Michael J. Laszlo faces having his US citizenship revoked after being accused of war crimes during WWII. Laszlo insists it is mistaken identity. His daughter, Ann Talbot, a Chicago defence attorney, resolves to defend her father in court. Prosecuting attorney Jack Burke of the Office of Special Investigations claims that the supposedly upstanding and affable family man, Laszlo, is "Mishka," the former commander of an Arrow Cross death squad. During the Siege of Budapest, Mishka's unit sadistically tortured, raped, and murdered scores of Hungarian Jews, Roma, and their Gentile protectors. Meanwhile, Laszlo's bank accounts reveal large payments to Tibor Zoldan, a fellow Hungarian immigrant. Laszlo claims these were unpaid loans to a destitute friend who had been recently killed in a hit-and-run car accident. At the hearing the few survivors give grisly testimony describing the crimes committed by Mishka's unit. All identify Laszlo as their torturer. Equally damning is an authenticated Arrow Cross identification card bearing Laszlo's photograph and the name, "Laszlo Miklos." Laszlo claims it is a frame-up by Hungary's then Communist government and its secret police, the ÁVO. He further claims it is retaliation for