Directed by František Vláčil • 1968 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Petr Čepek, Jan Kačer, Věra Galatíková
The final installment in František Vláčil’s trilogy of historical epics (directly following his most widely heralded work, MARKETA LAZAROVÁ) follows a young man (Petr Čepek) in thirteenth-century Europe through years of trials and tribulations as his father forces him to join the repressive religious order of the Teutonic Knights, from which he escapes only to be pursued by a dogmatic comrade (Jan Kačer) intent on punishing him for his betrayal. Rich with historical detail and starkly beautiful black-and-white visuals, THE VALLEY OF THE BEES powerfully dramatizes the tension between personal freedom and religious fundamentalism.
Up Next in Czechoslovak New Wave
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Adelheid
Directed by František Vláčil • 1970 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Petr Čepek, Emma Černá, Jan VostrčilOne of director František Vláčil’s most renowned works, this searing romantic tragedy considers questions of national trauma through a powerful human love story. In the aftermath of World War II, f...
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Four Murders Are Enough, Darling
Directed by Oldřich Lipský • 1971 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Lubomír Lipský, Jiřina Bohdalová, Iva JanžurováInfused with an anarchic cartoon energy, this irresistibly silly, almost Dadaist black comedy traces the absurdities that arise when a mild-mannered schoolteacher named George Camel (Lubom...
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Case for a Rookie Hangman
Directed by Pavel Juráček • 1970 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Lubomír Kostelka, Klára Jerneková, Milena ZahrynowskáInspired by “Gulliver’s Travels” and infused with the spirit of Kafka, this darkly surrealist fantasia finds Swift’s Lemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) plunged through the looking gla...
