The Ear (Czech, 1970) 94 min B&W Karel Kachyna. PROD: Karel Wejrik. SCR: Karel Kachyna, Jan Prochazka. MUSIC: Svatopluk Havelka. DOP: Josef Illík. CAST: Jiřina Bohdalová, Radoslav Brzobohatý.
This stunning film was banned for 20 years (until the Iron Curtain fell, as Czechoslovakia was under Soviet rule), but it was worth the wait. An art house movie making for perfect 4 AM viewing, this Kafkaesque nightmare depicts a bickering married couple (right out of Edward Albee) who returns home from a political cocktail party, and finds that the power in their house has been disconnected. Expertly intercutting flashbacks of the party into the present, the film plays upon the idea that the two are in darkness perhaps due to some politically incorrect mumblings made earlier in the evening. The film’s title refers to the surveillance bugs that are planted throughout the house. Once the couple learns of their existence, their paranoia gives way to retaliation. It is small wonder this was banned, and amazing that it wasn’t burned! The two go around the house tearing out the “ears” in an effort to achieve freedom, at least within their own dwelling. Otherwise, the only freedom these two ever get is within the caverns of their minds, which are quickly deteriorating in this case. The cynical ending, symbolically at dawn, shows that people will conform as long as they have consciences. The beautiful black and white cinematography is most impressive during the quasi-expressionistic “blackout” scenes, suggesting the bleak netherworld into which these people are thrown. The couple’s crumbling marriage is also representative of the crumbling lines of reality and fabrication, secret and verbalized thoughts, privacy and surveillance. This film is a shattering experience. One trivia note- the acting couple in this feature were a popular team in Czechoslovakia. At the time they were the “Dick and Liz” of their own country, yet, I am told their work was usually much more uptempo than this. This is Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf gone to Hell.
Originally published in “Short Takes”, Vol. #1, Issue #11. This column, which randomly collected capsule reviews of films, for once had a theme: all the movies were previously broadcast on Jay Scott’s Film International program.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.