Back Stage

SASA MAJUMA | Tuesday September 14, 2010 00:00

Set in Bohemia in the 13th Century, Marketa Lazarova is an amazing historical Film-Opera that delves into a Europe that was changing from paganism to Christianity. Marketa is about to enter a convent, when the rivalry between two clans intervenes and she is taken as spoils by one of them.

The film opens with the errant sons of Kozl’k (played by Josef Kemr), Mikolas (acted by Frantisek Veleck) and Adam or 'Jednorucka'  the one-armed (Ivan Palœch). Mikolas and Adam, who commit acts of banditry on unwary travellers, rob and kidnap a young Saxon nobleman, whose father escapes. Their robbery will bring down the wrath of the King upon Kozlik and his clan.

The King, in seeking revenge, requires the assistance of Lazar (Michal Kozuch) and his people who have turned to Christianity. Yet it is Lazar who has robbed the corpses - this act does not make him an ally of the Kozlik. The King sends an army to seek out and destroy Kozlik and his followers. One consequence of this is that Mikol‡s, to punish his neighbours, now his enemies, abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa (Magda Vaaryova - who later became the ambassador to Austria, a Slovakian politician and a presidential candidate) as she is being taken to join a convent. Following her abduction, she is raped and becomes pregnant by Mikol‡s. His wildness is attributed to his having been raised by wolves.  Astounding, though it may be, Marketa comes to love him.  Typical of clan warfare, one engagement always leads to the consequent swing of the pendulum and the next attack seeking revenge for what has happened. This can only result in an escalation of the conflict as the aggrieved clan seeks to retaliate to make up for what they have suffered. The action moves forward through the placement of 12-chapter cards to help guide the viewer - for example, 'Where we see what love does to a captain and the fate of the ewe is revealed'.  These are lettered in Germanic typeface. We are assisted by a narrator (Zdenek Stepanek) who revels in events with a degree of humour, for example, 'Frosts as passionate as the Christianity of that time'.

The film also changes in tone and visual images whenever Marketa appears praying, in church, or amongst the rushes, as if she were a Czech Ophelia. The cinematographer, Bedich Baka, also employs symbolic images involving black dogs, birds - hawks appear and the nuns release a flock of doves - and a snowy and icy landscape. The original music by Zdenk Lika sets a fitting atmosphere as the scenes shift, become more dark and violent, at times relying on a dissonant chorus. When Marketa appears the music becomes more uplifting, joyous. She actually has very few lines during the entire movie.

This was a time when Christianity confronted and on the surface overcame paganism. A woman involved in pagan rites is wild and her ceremonies are naked. She is Alexandria Kozl’kov‡ (played by Pavla Polaskova and voiced by Karolina Slunckov‡).  Her prisoner is Young Count Kristi‡n (Vlastimil Harapes voiced by Klaus-Peter Thiele) who also capitulates in surprising ways, as he is the nominated Bishop of Hennau. It is he who can walk unharmed through a pack of wolves. The Kozl’k family matriarch is Kateina (acted by Naa Hejn‡ and voiced by Antonie Hegerl’kov‡). The slow-witted, holy-fool, the wandering monk Bernard (Vladim’r Men’k) appears in the second part. His chapter heading is 'The soliloquy of madmen'.

This long film is presented in two parts and with an intermission between Straba (the werewolf) and The Lamb of God. In essence it is a 'folk saga' that is made up of a series of events, compounded by flashbacks and flash-forwards. It is hailed as one of the most historically accurate films ever made, the most convincing film about the Middle Ages, and has been compared to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954), Bergman's Virgin Spring (1960) and Tarkovsky's Andrei Roubl‘v (1966). One hundred Czech critics recognised it in 1998 as their greatest film. Frantiek Vlail says of his search for verisimilitude, 'People then were much more instinctive in their actions, and hence much more consistent. The controlling emotion was fear, and that brought its pressure to bear mainly at night. That is why some pagan customs stayed with man for such a long time'.

Marketa Lazarova is two hours and 39 minutes. It is rated 15+. It is in Czech and German with English subtitles. The director is Frantiek Vlail who wrote the script with Frantiek Pavl’ek. It is based on an experimental novel by Vladislav Vanura that was first published in 1931. Vanura also made outstanding movies in the 1930s. Vanura's film Marijka Nevrnice (1934) or Faithless Marijka uses the great Czech composer Bohuslav Martin's only film score. The cinematographer is Bedich Baka. The editor is Miroslav H‡jek. The original music is by Zdenk Lika. Stay to the end, as the credits follow a hierarchy, beginning with Germanic typeface and ending with plain san-serif.