An absolutely delightful absurdist satire from the late stages of the Czech New-Wave, this one pleasantly surprised me with how surreal and strange it was. The actual satirical message was pretty dense but I was still able to pickup on most of the topics (I hope). The story followed a normal man who gets into a car accident while travelling through the countryside, he escapes untouched but his car is totalled, leaving him to walk across the unknown countryside. While on the road he finds a dead rabbit dressed like a man (this is where the delectable absurdity picks up), he takes a pocket watch from its waistcoat. Then the man stumbles across a derelict house, this house brings up many painful memories of a closely loved girl who had drowned many years ago, the house starts to feel slightly surreal as the floorboards warp and he falls through doors into upside-down rooms and so on. He then finds himself in a bizarre and unknown country where he struggles to adapt to the very odd social customs and rules, this is where the satire starts to kick in, my interpretation is that this foreign country is a reflection of the totalitarian state of communist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. This outsider perspective of the very oppressive values really accentuates the alienation and isolation that Czechoslovakia’s people felt within their oppression. The film continues on a very ambiguous narrative which is very enjoyable at times but often confusing (not in a bad way however). Overall this is an absolutely brilliant film that’s beautifully photographed and really nicely written, its overall message is very powerful as well (powerful enough for the film and the director to be banned). Good stuff!!
An absolutely delightful absurdist satire from the late stages of the Czech New-Wave, this one pleasantly surprised me with how surreal and strange it was. The actual satirical message was pretty dense but I was still able to pickup on most of the topics (I hope). The story followed a normal man who gets into a car accident while travelling through the countryside, he escapes untouched but his car is totalled, leaving him to walk across the unknown countryside. While on the road he finds a dead rabbit dressed like a man (this is where the delectable absurdity picks up), he takes a pocket watch from its waistcoat. Then the man stumbles across a derelict house, this house brings up many painful memories of a closely loved girl who had drowned many years ago, the house starts to feel slightly surreal as the floorboards warp and he falls through doors into upside-down rooms and so on. He then finds himself in a bizarre and unknown country where he struggles to adapt to the very odd social customs and rules, this is where the satire starts to kick in, my interpretation is that this foreign country is a reflection of the totalitarian state of communist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. This outsider perspective of the very oppressive values really accentuates the alienation and isolation that Czechoslovakia’s people felt within their oppression. The film continues on a very ambiguous narrative which is very enjoyable at times but often confusing (not in a bad way however). Overall this is an absolutely brilliant film that’s beautifully photographed and really nicely written, its overall message is very powerful as well (powerful enough for the film and the director to be banned). Good stuff!!
