The cloud and the real swinger

Tre 2022-01-22 08:02:45

Ely Manzo (also translated as Jiri Menzel) has a soft spot for the novels of the famous Czech writer Hrabal.

Until 2006, when I filmed "I Serve the King of England", he has filmed 6 films adapted from his novels, from the Oscar-winning "Closely Watched Train" (1966) to the fantasy "Golden Memories" (1980), up to the poetic "Wingless Sparrow" (1990), and my favorite "Capricious Summer" (also translated "Summer Caprice" 1968) and "Sweet Village" (1985) and so on, it can be said that he is a genius film master who writes, directs, and acts in one.

In "I Serve the King of England", the small Jan Dieter is like a weird guy from an alien sky, innocent and slippery like a squid, thinking about becoming a millionaire, or secretly in front of others. Throw a coin and watch people of all colors "dongdong" get down with amusement. Regardless of who has much money, as long as the "ding bell" sounds, he will be sure that he will immediately bend over to pick it up. This fascinating action made Jan Dieter enjoy it. Erie Manzo's film can best express the subtle details, which is not only a presentation of inner realism, but also an expression of magical poetry. Inadvertent places can be seen from the performance of the screen without showing any traces, and from this action of bending to pick up, we can see the weirdness of human nature. This is in line with the theme of the Czech "New Wave" that he participated in before, and there is no disconnection. It’s just that after Dubček’s "Prague Spring", with Iris’s "Joke" in 1969 as the end, the Czech "New Wave" unfortunately came to an abrupt halt under the footsteps of the Soviet Union. The biggest international "joke". What is rare is that filmmakers such as he and Zitinova have been sticking to it. Of course, Milos Forman is also continuing to make the movies he wants in the United States, except that he will never find "Hey Peter". That long-lasting taste.

At the beginning of the film, the prison door opens, and when Jan Dieter, who has been in prison for 14 years and 9 months, comes out with a broken bag on his back, the sky has already changed color. He is already a middle-aged man with a sullen face. From the original flamboyant hairy boy to the current ragged clothes, from a former hundred-percent man to a penniless pauper, everything has to start all over again. He was assigned to a forest farm to work as a lumberjack. Take the axe and go to the woods to find trees that share music with them, and use them to make violin instruments. Working with him is the living woman Mary.

It is easiest to search for the past in this quiet forest. Ely Manzo is undoubtedly a master of creating a movie atmosphere. From the empty mountains to the hotels in the old days, it can be said that Prague’s vivid fragrance of the 1930s and 1940s is vividly displayed, even called it. Stunningly beautiful. After the beauty is unprecedented, it is the queen. This is a true joke of history.

The energetic Jan Dieter shuttled in such a colorful scene, unavoidably lost and horrified. This is also the spring when the bees are "buzzing" among the flowers. How can he not indulge in such beauty when he is young, although it looks a little illusory, after all, it is real and skinny. The wealthy Mr. Walden is his guide to the rich heaven, and the stunning beauty of "Heavenly House" Yarushka is his mentor of sexual enlightenment.

In the small bar, he can see the world through the big beer glass, in the feminine body fragrance, he can appreciate the deliciousness of raspberry juice, in the quiet hotel to the Paris restaurant, he has been swimming like a fish in the big dyeing tank of the hotel.

He can go to bed with the maid casually, and he can also presumptuously at the dining table with women who specialize in the pleasure of rich men. Without exception, he turns out the mirror to see the various flowers, fruits or coins sprinkled on the naked women around him. He is getting closer and closer to his dream of being a rich man. When the foreman Jacques was able to speak seven or eight languages, he sighed that he was not as good. Besides, Jacques proudly said, "I have served the King of England."

Until the eve of World War II, Jan Dieter knew a woman who was as short as him. This woman who was obsessed with Hitler and was proud of her pure blood made him tickle and always feel uncomfortable. At the beginning of World War II, she rushed to the battlefield of aggression and stole priceless stamps from a Jewish house in Warsaw, finally making Jan Dieter the rich man of her dreams.

With his own hotel, the husband can only be bored and put a lot of banknotes on the wall. When the communist came with a gun and smiled money, he took out his passbook and confidently declared "I have 15 million." The unselfish communist still smiled, gently touching his face and saying, "Just right, you should Sent to 15 years in prison".

Everything was gone, and even Jan Dieter himself couldn't help but sigh that "people are often in misfortune and accidents to perceive their true existence." It turns out that the loss of freedom is not terrible. The terrible thing is to see the world without being able to wake up. What is even more cursed is to lose the direction of life by indulging in so-called dreams. It just so happened that the Communists corrected the sense of despair he brought after he was rich. Once the dream is realized, there will be no dream. It is better to be locked up in a socialist concentration camp for transformation.

Remembering that in the Paris Hotel, the dignitaries, generals and dignitaries are surrounded by all kinds of stunning beauties, and not forgetting the nonsense that "work makes people noble", it makes Jan Dieter seem to be in a dizzy cloud. Fortunately, when the Communist Party was in power, all of them, who were drunk with dreams of death, fell severely from the heights of the clouds. Jan Dieter, who is only good at seeing the world through a beer glass and a mirror, can never see through the unpredictable world. After being confiscated, nothing left him as light as a swallow in relief. This seems to have a good enlightenment for the current anti-corruption reality of China's "fighting tiger swatter, hunting fox and wolf". No matter how much ill-gotten gains are taken, it will be nothing after all.

Of course, the movie will not extend such a gimmick. The distance between the cloud and the reality is not far away. Through the palm of Hrabal's hand, Ely Manzo exquisitely constructed a once glorious Prague. An unremarkable little man, in the Ukiyo-e-like world, step by step with his own wishful thinking, after all, he can't play with the general trend of the world, but he is alive and fortunate.

As the opening of the film said, "My happiness often comes from the misfortunes around me", which foreshadows this protagonist's fairy-tale and bitter real life.

2015, 1, 26

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Extended Reading

Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále quotes

  • Jan Díte, older: A person becomes most human, often against his own will, when he begins to founder, when he is derailed and deprived of order.