Skrivánci na niti (Larks on a String) (1990)
Release Date: Jan 1, 1969 Wide
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It is little wonder that this film was withheld from release by the communist government of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to its release in 1990 at the Berlin Film Festival. What's amazing is that it was made at all and that, having been made, it survived to be shown. The story concerns the irrepressible goodness of people imprisoned by the government in labor camps, as they struggle against all odds to retain their humanity. The story focuses on two small groups of prisoners: one of men, the other
Jan 1, 1969 Wide
Cast
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Václav Neckár
Pavel -
Vlastimil Brodský
Professor for literatur... -
Leos Sucharipa
Public prosecutor -
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Jaroslav Satoranský
Angel -
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All Critics (9) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (0) | DVD (1)
It turns to whimsy more than it does to biting satire.
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Foreign Titles
- Lerchen am Faden / Skrivánci na niti (DE)
- Larks on a String (Skrivanci na niti) (UK)
One of the half dozen or so Czech New Wave films being shown at the World Film Festival of Bangkok, this 1969 film by Jiri Menzel (Closely Watched Trains) was banned until 1990, when it was finally shown at the Berlin Film Festival.
A sharp commentary on the communist system in Czechoslovakia, the story takes place in a scrapyard where a philosopher, a librarian, a jazz musician, a former industrialist and other bourgesois types were working as part of their reassignment under the proleterian workers state.
Romance is thrown in, when some women prisoners, who work in another part of the scrapyard, are thrown in. Love develops between a young man and one of the women, and everyone in the scrapyard, including a guard, do their part to bring these young people together.
But there's trouble when a doddering government official comes for a visit, and the young man questions him. Off to the mines with that guy.
Meanwhile, the supervisor (a worker, just like you) of the scrapyard, goes some ramshackle home and baths a nubile young naked woman with a sponge. Another party official comes over to help.
Not sure what that means. But then Menzel's films are always full of symbolism. A couple years ago, at this same film festival, I got to see Closely Watched Trains, which contains all kinds of metaphores for sex and release -- stuff that's been copied time and again in just about every romantic comedy.
But for Larks on a String, there's more going on, stuff that was especially directed at the communist government back then, but is still relevant today under today's fascist regimes.