Lo scherzo (Zert) - Jaromil Jires

un film (tratto dal romanzo di Milan Kundera, un bel romanzo) in un bellissimo bianco e nero, racconta una storia che sembra di un altro mondo, di un'altra vita, ma vicinissima, uno scherzo (pagato caro) e una vendetta (mancata).

terribile la parte del servizio militare delle pecore nere. 
convincenti gli attori, sopratutto Josef Somr (Ludvik).

nella seconda metà degli anni '60 la Primavera di Praga lasciava libertà impensabili prima e dopo, con una generazione di registi di serie A, poi emigrati all'estero, o censurati in patria.

un film da vedere, davvero un gran bel film – Ismaele

 

QUI il film completo, in italiano

 

 

 

 

Quindici anni dopo esser stato espulso dal Partito e dall'università causa la delazione di alcuni compagni, Ludvik cerca un'effimera vendetta. Il film di Jires rispecchia la precaria eppure inebriante libertà di pensiero (e cinematografica) sviluppatasi durante la Primavera di Praga. Coraggioso sul piano del contenuto (la storia di un dissidente del regime) e temerario stilisticamente (il montaggio a "andirivieni" temporali; l'utilizzo del materiale d'archivio), "Lo scherzo", come il volto del Ludvik di Somr, è permeato da un'ironia triste e senza alcuna speranza.

MEMORABILE: Il bigliettino che causerà tutti i mali di Ludvik: "L'ottimismo è l'oppio dei popoli. Uno spirito sano soffoca di stupidità. Lunga vita a Trotzky"

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…Allo stesso tempo le timide aperture della Primavera di Praga diedero la possibilità ai registi di rileggere il recente passato del paese in modo nuovo. Appartiene a questo filone, anche se solo in parte, Demanty noci (I diamanti della notte, del 1964), l'esordio di Jan Nemec che riguarda un episodio dell'Olocausto (seppur trasfigurato in chiave surreale), ma soprattutto il lungometraggio diretto da Jaromil Jires Zart (Lo scherzo del 1969), tratto dall'omonimo romanzo di Milan Kundera, che collaborò anche alla sceneggiatura, nel quale veniva mostrato un campo di lavoro in cui erano reclusi i dissidenti negli anni Cinquanta. Il film venne subito ritirato e congelato negli archivi…

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…The Joke, which he finished filming just before Soviet tanks stormed his country to recapture it, didn’t impress the new government, since it spoke boldly against the Stalinist era, and as a result, it sat largely unseen, even in its own country, for nearly two decades. Based on a novel by Milan Kundera, the celebrated author of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, The Joke is a blunt parable about the Stalinist era’s asinine insistence that every individual must at every moment act with the political party in mind. The film opens as Ludvik, its central character, arrives in his hometown after being away for twenty years ready to set upon what he describes in his narration as a “cynical mission.” Before long, the film launches into an extended flashback to the Stalinist era that explains what’s motivating his revenge plot. During these scenes, which are filmed from a first-person perspective, we never see Ludvik, and often the other characters address the camera directly. The minor transgression shown is quite obviously borne out of his frustration that the woman he loves loves her political party more than him (behavior that’s absurdly encouraged by the Czech society shown here), but it ends up resulting in his exile…

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...now, that Kundera was revealed to have himself denounced a "capitalist spy" to the police authorities and thus contributed to the long-term prison/correction camp sentences of several people, this book/movie develops in an unexpected dimension. Was it a deliberate, or subconscious way for Kundera to deal with his own guilt, a way to explain to his younger self that what he did, apparently out of good faith and sense of civic duty, at the age of 20, seemed nothing but utter stupidity at the age of forty?...
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…Finally in 1968, Jaromil Jires directed The Joke (Zert), with Milan Kundera writing an adaptation of his own novel reflecting his disillusionment with communism. The plot focuses on Ludvik, an embittered man who seeks revenge for an incident from his youth. He had sent a postcard to a prospective girlfriend in which he sarcastically responds to something she had said about Trotsky. The card fell into the hands of a student committee who failed to see its satiric tone. Ludvik is expelled from the party and the university, and further punished with prison, and years of forced labor. Fifteen years later, an accidental encounter with the wife of a key student leader provides the opportunity for revenge.

The film alternates nimbly between scenes from the past and present, utilizing frequent cross-cutting, and astutely placed snippets of voice-over narration. The denouement provides surprises at every turn. Eventually, Jires implicates everyone, including the protagonist.

The Joke was released in 1968, a turbulent year in Czech history. After a brief period of increased liberalization, the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia, reestablishing a harsh regime. The film was banned and vanished from Jires' official filmography…

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