Communism in Eastern Europe has been an issue for decades and has often been reflected in the cinema the region releases. Whether being analogized through theatrical performance or sex and manhood, the argument of resistance has been a very loud one in Eastern European cinema. In this essay I plan to address the following points of concern: Sexual conquest and its use as passage into an altered state of thought. Play-acting and theatrics and whether or not they are purposeful in film or are they empty gestures. And lastly, resistance to authority Eastern Europe and whether or not the way they are depicted convey a conclusion about the political climate during and after World War II.The films I will discuss in regards to such will be: Jirí Menzel's
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The film follows the historical invasion of the Czechoslovakian territory by the Germans. The film portrays the Czechs as an innocent and fun-loving people that are consistently fighting the corruption of the Nazi regime and Germany's attempt to Germanize the Czech. To address the first question, Closely Watched Trains is a perfect example of a film that specifically used a sexual conquest as a passage into an altered way of thinking. That altered way of thinking being the Nazi agenda and it's communist ideals. The film centers around main character Milos Hrma, new and young railway apprentice, and what he thought was a problem with premature ejaculation. In this film sex was used as passage into manhood which was analogous to the war effort and communism. The act of sex was depicted as an act only the sexually mature could commit. This standard of sexual maturity was set by the Germans soldiers throughout the film. Czechs that modeled themselves after the Germans were able to commit the act, but those who did not, like Milos, had difficulty. Continuously throughout the film the German presence was constantly increasing. Accompanying the increased presence, Germans also pushed the war efforts onto the unsuspecting Czechs. Communism and war contribution was represented by this idea of "manhood" and sex. Something a Czech …show more content…
Does communism truly offer a path to freedom for the Eastern Europeans as promised by the political propaganda or is it just another way the European authority attempts to control the masses with this false sense of hope? There is one overarching theme in all of the films we have watched so far, and it is the importance of authority and its function as a controlling force in Eastern Europe. For Witek, life in Poland isn't so easily defined. But for many, life in Eastern Europe with the explosion of communism is not easily defined. Resistance during this time, like in Witek's case, is pointless. So what choice do you make when all the outcomes are the same? Blind Chance, offers the honest question to Eastern Europeans, and honestly, I think like the outcome, the choice doesn't matter. I guess what is most surprising is that despite their outlooks on Communism post WWII, most of Eastern Europe today unanimously agrees that "their lives were worse under capitalist democracies."
The film follows the historical invasion of the Czechoslovakian territory by the Germans. The film portrays the Czechs as an innocent and fun-loving people that are consistently fighting the corruption of the Nazi regime and Germany's attempt to Germanize the Czech. To address the first question, Closely Watched Trains is a perfect example of a film that specifically used a sexual conquest as a passage into an altered way of thinking. That altered way of thinking being the Nazi agenda and it's communist ideals. The film centers around main character Milos Hrma, new and young railway apprentice, and what he thought was a problem with premature ejaculation. In this film sex was used as passage into manhood which was analogous to the war effort and communism. The act of sex was depicted as an act only the sexually mature could commit. This standard of sexual maturity was set by the Germans soldiers throughout the film. Czechs that modeled themselves after the Germans were able to commit the act, but those who did not, like Milos, had difficulty. Continuously throughout the film the German presence was constantly increasing. Accompanying the increased presence, Germans also pushed the war efforts onto the unsuspecting Czechs. Communism and war contribution was represented by this idea of "manhood" and sex. Something a Czech …show more content…
Does communism truly offer a path to freedom for the Eastern Europeans as promised by the political propaganda or is it just another way the European authority attempts to control the masses with this false sense of hope? There is one overarching theme in all of the films we have watched so far, and it is the importance of authority and its function as a controlling force in Eastern Europe. For Witek, life in Poland isn't so easily defined. But for many, life in Eastern Europe with the explosion of communism is not easily defined. Resistance during this time, like in Witek's case, is pointless. So what choice do you make when all the outcomes are the same? Blind Chance, offers the honest question to Eastern Europeans, and honestly, I think like the outcome, the choice doesn't matter. I guess what is most surprising is that despite their outlooks on Communism post WWII, most of Eastern Europe today unanimously agrees that "their lives were worse under capitalist democracies."