>Reply-To: "Cultural Section" <[email protected]> >From: "Cultural Section" <[email protected]> >Subject: Screening: Lovers and Murderers (Milenci a vrazi) on May >24, 7:00 pm at the Czech Embassy >Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 16:16:40 -0400 >Organization: Czech Embassy >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 > >Dear Friends of Czech Culture: > >On Wednesday, May 24 at 7:00 pm, the Embassy Czech Republic will >screen the film Lovers and Murderers (Milenci a vrazi) directed by >Viktor Polesny. The film is in Czech with English subtitles running >approximately 108 min. > >Short synopsis: They murder because they love. They love to the >point of murder. The film takes place in the 1970s and 80s in >Northern Bohemia. The central setting is a house somewhere in Usti >nad Labem. The laws that rule this house are not ones of love but of >hatred and torture, both physical and mental. The film is based on >the book of the same name by Vladimir Paral and deals with the >social inequality within a small apartment buildng. > >For more information on the film, visit: ><http://www.milenciavrazi.cz/>www.milenciavrazi.cz/ . > >I found an interesting article in the Prague Post on the film. Read >below if you would like to learn more about the film from this >article. Reservations can be made by calling 202/274-9100 x. 3413. >For additional questions, please call 202/274-9105. > >Take care, >Mary E. Fetzko > > > >--------------------------- >Not a house party >Tough look back at the harsh times of communist era > >By <mailto:[email protected]>Raymond Johnston >Staff Writer, The Prague Post >December 9, 2004 > >Life under communism is sometimes depicted nostalgically, with lots >of laughter between the bread lines. Lovers and Murderers, based on >the 1968 novel by Vladimir Paral, takes a much harsher view. Most of >the characters try to claw their way into better state-run housing >and better positions at the state-owned factory. The worst >characters are usually rewarded, while the altruistic ones suffer. > >The story takes place in the industrial town of Usti nad Labem, from >the 1960s to the '80s, and centers mostly on the inhabitants of the >building with municipal registry number 2000. It is a microcosm of >the ongoing class struggle. The building has one large apartment, >where a boss at the local chemical factory lives with his family, >and several rooms that have been turned into dorms for different >categories of workers, although the people living in the rooms are >seldom from the designated group. > >Each of the people in the rooms goes about setting up petty plots to >force the others out to get more space for themselves. The factory >boss' family hogs all the water, while the rest of the tenants >either bang on the pipes or try to sabotage the plumbing. The plans >to get rid of neighbors are mean and devious, with carefully planted >rumors followed up by anonymous letters hinting at unsocialist acts >and attitudes. But even the best apartments have seen much better >days, so the fighting seems ridiculously petty. > >In the dorm rooms, it's every person for himself. An ambitious >resident (Jiri Langmajer) has to fight with some newly arrived >welders over his collection of English-language magazines, and none >of the welders can even read English. > >If only they put nearly this much effort into their jobs. At the >factory, goofing off is an art, and various people spend time >sneaking up to the roof for some sunshine, or using the factory fire >hose to water the flowers and spray the female workers as they pass >by on hot days. > >The arrival of Alex Serafin (played by Marko Igondo) upsets the >status quo. He moves in with his brother, Julda (Ondrej Vetchy), who >is living with their sister, Madda (Kristina Kloubkova). Madda and >Alex are both fairly amoral and Julda quickly catches them in an >unseemly situation and begs the other residents to make space for >her in another room, as the brother and sister clearly can't be left alone. > >Julda is depicted as moralistic to the point of being simple-minded. >His meddling causes no end of problems and eventually has dire >ramifications for all the residents. > >Even though the novel was written in 1968, it took the characters >forward into the 1980s. Of course, the novelist lacked any knowledge >of life after the Soviet invasion or of the Velvet Revolution. The >filmmakers keep parts of the original story and blend them with bits >of actual history. Rather than the cycle of repeating events in >house number 2000, a cinematic montage shows huge sections of Usti >being demolished and panelaks going up in their place. But some >things never change, and the new factory boss can look with envy as >a new generation sneaks up on the roof and a young woman drives an >electric cart under the hose. > >Repetition and long, poetic passages play a big part in the novel. >The cinematography captures this flavor by repeating several >landscape shots as time passes in the film. And the filmmakers have >a talent for finding beauty in slag heaps, pipelines and >architectural details of the industrial setting. > >Another element that helps add to the poetry of the film is the >soundtrack, with original music by Karel Svoboda. His plaintive >incidental tracks have an unsettling edge. They gently remind the >viewer that nothing is quite right and nobody is fully happy. >Mood-setting period music that pops up includes a song by Karel Gott. > >The novel also has a lot of internal monologues, in which the >characters justify their pettiness. Director Viktor Polesny avoids >using voice-overs or a narrator. This strategy helps to keep the >film sharp. The people are given no defense for their behavior. It's >the people themselves that make living in house number 2000 such an ordeal. > >