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Distinguished by being banned 'forever' in its native Czechoslovakia Nemec's film The Party and the Guests is perhaps the most politically dangerous film made during the flowering of Czech cinema during the 1960's. Not only a biting allegory on totalitarianism and an unflinching satire on conformity, its astute observations of human nature make it a universally relevant film.
Voted as one of the best films of the 1960's by the New York Times film critics, this will be the first time ever released on DVD.
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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: Czech ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Short Film, SYNOPSIS: Distinguished by being 'banned forever' in its native Czech Republic, Jan Nemec's 'A Report on the Party' is a great film from the flowering of the Czech cinema in the 1960s. It is a political thriller that satirizes unquestionable conformity. A group of happy picnickers are accosted by a group of strangers led by a bullying sadist who has an unbreakable hold over his followers. After he interrogates one of them, a stranger then invites everyone to a nonsensical, but elegant and formal banquet outdoors. Nemec documents the process of self-deception and rationalization which lead to an acceptance of constrant; free will and freedom are seen as difficult to maintain and easily discarded. The affair is bizarre, and ends when one of the guests (played by film director Evald Schorm) chooses not to remain and escapes. His compatriots agree that he must be recaptured, and the group arms and hunts him down. The film concludes with the nightmarish barking of search dogs. ...The Party and the Guests ( O slavnosti a hostech ) ( A Report on the Party and the Guests )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
'The Party and the Guests' is one of the best films to have come out of Czech new wave cinema in the 1960s. After a colourful history of being 'banned forever' by the Communist government and then languishing largely unseen in the west, it has now been given a DVD release with a good print of the film which is a worthy addition to any collection.
The film itself centres around a well-heeled group of people attending a party in a forest. Beyond that, it's probably better to leave the plot undescribed, as this film is in any case all about atmosphere. The creeping oddness and uneasiness which increases in stages towards the end is genuinely unsettling for the viewer, and several currents of tension run through the film. Power dynamics shift among the characters and one mysteriously disappears. The climactic scene of the film is in many ways strongly reminiscent - and possibly a precursor of - Bunuel's 'Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' which makes it all the more fascinating.
Overall this short film (it's under 80 mins long) is very watchable and even rather gripping in places. You don't need a strong knowledge of Czech history and politics to admire what the film has to say on authority, totalitarianism and the ways human society works - or even just to enjoy the absurdity of it all. Buy this DVD and delight in a nearly forgotten classic of European film.
The film itself centres around a well-heeled group of people attending a party in a forest. Beyond that, it's probably better to leave the plot undescribed, as this film is in any case all about atmosphere. The creeping oddness and uneasiness which increases in stages towards the end is genuinely unsettling for the viewer, and several currents of tension run through the film. Power dynamics shift among the characters and one mysteriously disappears. The climactic scene of the film is in many ways strongly reminiscent - and possibly a precursor of - Bunuel's 'Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' which makes it all the more fascinating.
Overall this short film (it's under 80 mins long) is very watchable and even rather gripping in places. You don't need a strong knowledge of Czech history and politics to admire what the film has to say on authority, totalitarianism and the ways human society works - or even just to enjoy the absurdity of it all. Buy this DVD and delight in a nearly forgotten classic of European film.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
So you're out with your friends frolicking around in a beautiful forest glade, enjoying the summer weather, eating cake and drinking wine. You decide to leave when a group of thuggish looking men led by a bizarre, slightly menacing character, decide that you can't go home just yet! Cue Kafkaesque intrigue, surreal encounters and meaningless dialogue. Slowly the tension builds up as our guests are cajoled and entertained by the 'party' led by a man in a white suit with a penchant for candelabras. For me this film captures the mental and physical control exerted by a totalitarian regime whose sole purpose is control and conformity laced with the threat of violence (listen to the blank screen ending!). There is no escape so our guests have to conform, some willingly, others under duress - except for one silent character. This film is a remarkable allegory of repression, instilling a sense of unease and bewilderment, which is reinforced by the medium itself - there is no discernible plot, conversations are incomplete and nothing is explained. However, there are some moments of exquisite filmmaking - the women bathing in a refreshing brook, the rustle of trees in a warm breeze and the banquet scene by a lake.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
You need t be to be in the right frame of mind to imbibe a different critical sensual perception of the world. Seemingly very little happens in the film; it is a subtle allegory. Very little, is the point, as the changes wrought are not the tanks rolling into the square to announce a new beginning. The film operates on the idea of subtle coercion, gently enforcing boundaries, including tough cajoling needed to create a docile mass. AA boundaries are enforced by a mirage, of capturing people within a spell and then getting them to enforce the order themselves. Compliance is needed as much as duress and then people police themselves.
Offering people bonhomie, food, platitudes, whilst forever shaping them to external expectations, becomes the critique, delineating how people create conformity. The film has a very Kafkaesque feel to it. The throng gazing onto a leader, encroaching upon their everyday space with overarching expectations. The bourgeois participants are then ensnared into a world where they accept what is being offered. They adapt to its expectations and denounce those closest to them, those who fail to conform to the herd values.
A critique of totalising communism, of course, but a hidden critique emerges when reflected upon the West, not the East. Bathing, drinking wine, the demarcation of gender, the everyday encrochment of officialdom is more applicable to a "democracy" than an overt survellance state.
Spins a wire back to "The Trial" and "The Castle" with its allegorical surrealism, which chimes with the presentation of life within a modern world vista.
When it appeared in 1960's Czechoslavakia it must have been an hilarious pastiche of life under duress. Within modernity it applies to those who have adapted to the strictures of liberal democracy without a second thought. This is how it is, was and ever shall be.
What is missing is a speech from the leader about straying into the woods, because it may be full of terrorists or paedophiles. That would have capped it off, but still letting the Alsatian loose on those who do not conform, after building himself up to be the wounded party shows some psychological insight into the application of power. Arming one of the former friends with a rifle, to shoot his former friend and any of the others, in effect enforcing the new moral order is prescient.
One to watch again and again to get the "joke" as this is as subtle as it gets, akin to a Harold Pinter play.
Offering people bonhomie, food, platitudes, whilst forever shaping them to external expectations, becomes the critique, delineating how people create conformity. The film has a very Kafkaesque feel to it. The throng gazing onto a leader, encroaching upon their everyday space with overarching expectations. The bourgeois participants are then ensnared into a world where they accept what is being offered. They adapt to its expectations and denounce those closest to them, those who fail to conform to the herd values.
A critique of totalising communism, of course, but a hidden critique emerges when reflected upon the West, not the East. Bathing, drinking wine, the demarcation of gender, the everyday encrochment of officialdom is more applicable to a "democracy" than an overt survellance state.
Spins a wire back to "The Trial" and "The Castle" with its allegorical surrealism, which chimes with the presentation of life within a modern world vista.
When it appeared in 1960's Czechoslavakia it must have been an hilarious pastiche of life under duress. Within modernity it applies to those who have adapted to the strictures of liberal democracy without a second thought. This is how it is, was and ever shall be.
What is missing is a speech from the leader about straying into the woods, because it may be full of terrorists or paedophiles. That would have capped it off, but still letting the Alsatian loose on those who do not conform, after building himself up to be the wounded party shows some psychological insight into the application of power. Arming one of the former friends with a rifle, to shoot his former friend and any of the others, in effect enforcing the new moral order is prescient.
One to watch again and again to get the "joke" as this is as subtle as it gets, akin to a Harold Pinter play.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
a masterpiece from the totalitarian era
Some compare Ian Nemez with Louis Bunuell, however the last had little to oppose to. ďèęíèę â ăîđàòà/ "Piknik v gorata"= "the party and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Bella Stone
A plague on all your parties!
This classic Dubcek era film just made it to the light of day before the Russian tanks roled into Prague in 1967, ending the "Prague Spring" Of course "The Party and the Guests"... Read more
Published on 24 May 2010 by D. Warner
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