Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Milos Forman (born Jan Tomas Forman) / Czechoslovakia / 1932 [imdb]
Budget: No info
Gross: No info
Synopsis: A factory head talks the Czech military into sending a troop to his small town with the purpose of giving his young working-girls a morale boost. A girl, Andula, plays hard-to-get but instead falls for the piano player at the large meet-and-greet. Milos Forman introduces the world to a unique and awkward comedy style as we eventually follow Andula to Prague.
Narrative and Visual Keywords: Comedy; Romance; Black-and-white; Czech Foreign
Characterization/ Dialogue: A young awkward stand-offish girl gets wrapped up with a womanizing and desperate piano player. Their dialogue is playful yet almost hostile; the kind of hostility that proves to draw the directed party in closer--a conversational tactic used by lusting males. All others in the film exhibit great self-consciousness to a comedic level.
Camera/lighting/editing technique: Lots of two-shots and three-shots mixed up with over-the-shoulder for purpose of reactions during conversation; one of the final shots with three members of a family laying in a bed lasts almost five minutes / the locations are evenly lit with the most dynamic being the bedroom where the couple consummates their romance: the blinds go from down to up and the low-light flickers on the vulnerable, naked Andula / Lots of long shots with subjects (some inanimate) directing the camera's movement--cutting on the motion and keeping a steady flow.
Political/ Social Commentary: Small towns in Soviet Czechoslovakia left a lot to be desired when it came to activities for young people. When asked where there is to go at night, the young ladies reply, "to the park or to the woods." Young ladies who worked in factories displayed a jaded nature with a pack mentality--eyes often dead with a dormant passion. Adults had a particular path for their youth, but the young had different plans, and under stringent rule, they act under the radar.
Historical Relevance/ Recognition: In a time when all of the young men in a town would be conscripted by the army, the women left to work in the factories had to keep themselves busy outside of work. This film didn't speak literally of Soviet rule, but the insular mentality made Prague the only lively destination for a young Czech woman.
Notable Collaboration: Forman wrote the story and screenplay with Jaroslav Papousek; of whom he also worked with on The Fireman's Ball, further honing their unique brand of comedy. [imdb]
Random fact, Etc.: It was named no. 89 in Empire Magazine 100 top films of World Cinema in 2010. [Wikipedia]
1. What are the characters’ attitudes toward work/ What is their work ethic like?
Characters are dead-eyed at work until another human captures their attention. This is made evident by the two times
you capture Andula in the shoe factory and the two times you see the piano player performing. They are cogs in two different yet similar machines. They do their job just the same but rebel to the fullest when clocked-off.
2. Were you able to distinguish the use of symbols/ What story elements seemed surreal?
A scene where the frumpy soldier loses his ring at the ball and it rolls under the legs of gazing female equivalents is telling of loose sanctity of tradition and shaky state of anything that is deemed permanent. Peoples' futures hang in the balance like loose teeth and young people play away, though guilt proves to be a factor / How exactly did Andula know where the piano player lives in Prague? It was evident they talked off camera when they laid in his hotel room, but a scene where she would gaze at a piece of paper with his address on it would have proved beneficial. She almost willed herself to his parents' house, though, when considering the parents' absurd behavior, I'm very glad she did.
3. Does the main character seem in control of his/her own destiny? In relation to the individualist vs. the communist perspective? Does the character have a viewpoint concerning the divine or "God"?
Andula has a certain control over her destiny, but she seems uncertain when she arrives. She is in the driver's seat until the moment she lets another into the car. And again, her jaded and uncertain nature seems derived by the fortunes of her nation; without much to look forward to, she resides inside of her own head and follows almost-primal passions. When it comes to the unnatural, I believe Andula to be naive, judging by the reading of her palm by the piano player. She is ready to believe but has no structure on the matter.
Characters are dead-eyed at work until another human captures their attention. This is made evident by the two times
you capture Andula in the shoe factory and the two times you see the piano player performing. They are cogs in two different yet similar machines. They do their job just the same but rebel to the fullest when clocked-off.
2. Were you able to distinguish the use of symbols/ What story elements seemed surreal?
A scene where the frumpy soldier loses his ring at the ball and it rolls under the legs of gazing female equivalents is telling of loose sanctity of tradition and shaky state of anything that is deemed permanent. Peoples' futures hang in the balance like loose teeth and young people play away, though guilt proves to be a factor / How exactly did Andula know where the piano player lives in Prague? It was evident they talked off camera when they laid in his hotel room, but a scene where she would gaze at a piece of paper with his address on it would have proved beneficial. She almost willed herself to his parents' house, though, when considering the parents' absurd behavior, I'm very glad she did.
3. Does the main character seem in control of his/her own destiny? In relation to the individualist vs. the communist perspective? Does the character have a viewpoint concerning the divine or "God"?
Andula has a certain control over her destiny, but she seems uncertain when she arrives. She is in the driver's seat until the moment she lets another into the car. And again, her jaded and uncertain nature seems derived by the fortunes of her nation; without much to look forward to, she resides inside of her own head and follows almost-primal passions. When it comes to the unnatural, I believe Andula to be naive, judging by the reading of her palm by the piano player. She is ready to believe but has no structure on the matter.
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