Review of Marketa Lazarová (1967) by Cameron J — 28 May 2014

Wrought and gorgeously shot, Frantisek Vlacil might have made the masterpiece of Czech film that has yet to be matched.

It is a bit hard to follow for a non-speaker of Czech, as it surreally jumps around consciousness and time. I probably need to re-view it if I am to enjoy it fully. However, it is undoubtedly one of the most gorgeously shot black and white films I have ever seen. The Criterion Collection transfer is outstanding. The film could have been shot yesterday, but then again it probably looks too good to have been shot yesterday.

It reminds me of the spirit of the beehive in how it hints at the violence and repression of the era in which it was produced by using an historical example. The violence of Christianity replacing the violence of Paganism is an analogue to the violence of Soviet-style Communism replacing the violence of capitalism or the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The book was written in 1931, a couple years before a political movement that would have existential consequences for the Czech people took root. The film was completed by 1967, a few months before Dubcek initiated the Prague Spring reforms that were crushed by the Soviet Union. The pressure in the Czech art world was preparing to blossom at this fleeting moment in time.

"Lazarova" is a vast and nuanced epic that reveals the cyclical brutality of humanity, and I don't mean that as a condemnation of our brethren necessarily. (29 May 2014).