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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shocking Truth, 27 Oct 2003
This review is from: Body Without Soul [1996] [DVD] (DVD)
The director, Wiktor Grodecki, intended to shock with this documentary - but I believe not to shock just for the sake of it, but to shock in order for the world to wake up and see what is happening in the old Eastern Block. It is clear from this documentary that Western money is driving the under age sex trade in Prague. The honesty with which the director approaches this subject is refreshing (albeit shocking!). The young guys from Prague that he interviews tell their live story with openness and sometimes it is unbelievable that at their age they have already been exposed to the worst of society. The fact that the porn director has a daytime job as a Pathologist / Undertaker adds an shocking dimension to prove that these are indeed "bodies without soul" The quality of the DVD is excellent, both in sound and picture. You should watch this documentary before you watch Wiktor Grodecki's follow-up film, Mandragora. One can just wonder how much of his own life is reflected in this film.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mandragora's grim companion piece, 28 Sep 2002
Grodecki is intrigued with the male prostitution problem in Prague. This is the documentary which was adapted into the feature film Mandragora. The themes are very similar and can be traced into the plot of the fiction film. In this documentary he interviews boys who have become male prostitutes. He shows men following very young boys in public places, boys preparing for a porn shoot and the general grimness of their lives. Most of the boys are heterosexual, lured into the 'profession' by the prospect of money which never appears. They tell how they have been beaten, conned and infected but there is little explanation as to how they can escape the trap they are in- for this you need to see Mandragora which offers more in way of an explanation. What comes through in this film is the desperate nature of these boys lives. Some say how they enjoy the job, yet the lack of light in their eyes betrays them. They are trying to convince themselves as much as us. You see their bad skin, shaking hands and drug-blackened eyes. You hear voices changed by addiction and fear. And on top of this Grodecki intercuts this with an interview with one of Prague's main gay porn directors. He seems equally nervous of the situation but describes how he has to beat the boys in his films if they don't do what they want. He explains why they can't use protection in the films (the German market doesn't like it and he wouldn't get paid) and how he makes the money in each film... He is interviewed both at home and at his day job, performing autopsy's and this is the main thread which pulls the whole film together- he deals with bodies in whatever form. The prostitutes he films are just bodies, they have no soul and you are left at the end of the film with this unpleasant feeling. As one boy says when asked if he has ever loved a man- "Yes and I've hurt him many times." His eyes fill with tears and there is an unnerving pause. "That man is my father." I'm glad that I have seen this film because it explains the rationale behind Mandragora but its not easy viewing.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not entirely what it seems, 14 Jun 2009
This review is from: Body Without Soul [1996] [DVD] (DVD)
This film has caused a certain amount of controversy when it appeared on television. Purporting to be a documentary filmed on the streets of Prague. A large pinch of salt is required. The story plot line has been floating round before and is no more typical of Prague than London, Paris or Berlin. The "boys" all appear to be actors, and the "top pornographer in Prague" appears to have no published films to his name (certainly not for "Man's Best" studio as claimed). If it is fiction, then it assumes you find rentboys degrading or degraded. And pornstars = rent. It also assumes that all gay sex is dirty. It was made by a German film company. Director Wicktor Grodecki (surely a Polish name not Czech) seems to only do Gay Sex is Grotty films.
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