Directed by Karel Kachyňa • 1966 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Iva Janžurová, Jaromír Hanzlík, Luděk Munzar
In the waning days of World War II, a young Czech woman (Iva Janzurová) is forced by a pair of Austrian soldiers to accompany them on their journey from the Russian front to Vienna. Unbeknownst to them, she is a widow whose husband was killed by the Nazis and who is determined to exact revenge on his behalf. What plays out is both a taut, moody thriller—the fablelike atmosphere conjured in part thanks to Ester Krumbachová’s costume design—and a morally complex exploration of the dehumanizing effects of war.
Up Next in Ester Krumbachová: Phantom of the Czechoslovak New Wave
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A Report on the Party and Guests
Directed by Jan Němec • 1966 • Czechoslovakia
In Jan Němec's surreal fable, a picnic is rudely transformed into a lesson in political hierarchy when a handful of mysterious authority figures show up. This allegory about oppression and conformity was banned in its home country but became an inter...
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Daisies
Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1966 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová, Marie ČeškováIf the entire world is bad, why shouldn’t we be? Adopting this insolent attitude as their guiding philosophy, a pair of hedonistic young women (Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová), both named...
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All My Good Countrymen
Directed by Vojtěch Jasný • 1969 • Czechoslovakia
Vojtěch Jasný won the best director award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival for this sweeping portrait of a small Czech village between the years of 1945 and 1958, during which the residents go from hopeful in the aftermath of the defeat of the Na...
