Marketa Lazarová (1974)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Major Disappointment

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

What works for this film has critics and viewers losing track of what doesn't. I agree with all the praise heaped on for the cinematography. As a work of visual art, this film certainly deserves its place in the list of the greatest. For that alone, I stayed with it far beyond the point of giving up on knowing who was who and what was happening to them. But, for an almost three hour movie, I need something to grasp other than great visual stimulation because that can't sustain my interest for three hours alone without some sort of tangible idea or story. There is a story here, somewhere, but unfortunately, since so many of the characters look alike, and the editing makes it impossible to tell whether you're seeing flashbacks or just moving to new scenes, and the dialog offers no help in delineating the plot, I could only tell that some medieval people were trying to kill each other--something about a robbery, but then the robber seems to have caught another robber robbing the same people and took him hostage, other people got away and were taken hostage, who I couldn't figure out, someone's daughter is a nun, maybe, or a pagan witch, or some convoluted excuse to show her naked--in other words, the story is an absolute mess. Others have praised what they call a "non-linear plot." I don't mind a non-linear plot at all, but for this film, the phrase is no better than an excuse for bad story-telling.

First i have to say that my journey to understanding this film was not an easy one. I ve seen it first time at age of 19teen and was quite a confused.. cause I've seen not much story, not much dialogues not much conversation in this film.. i just knew even from school that this movie according to lot of people in czech republic where vlacil and me are from should have won Oscar instead of "ostre sledovane vlaky". I ve returned to this movie few years later.. and was astonished... main power in of this movie doesn't lay in plot or conversations. u have to watch as a story about love made in AMAZING audio visual manner. true masterpiece and piece of art which is going to last forever i think. The scenes have so much of pathos (in a good way) that make u wanna cry.. acting performances are astonishing, especially Josef Kemr... this film is a true emotional experience.. i can only recommend it to you..

I can only add my voice to the other reviewers, asking why such a masterpiece, voted the best Czech film of all time, is not available on DVD or VHS, especially since two of the director's lesser films did make it to VHS. Another Vlacil film (just as unique in its own way) that is not available is The White Dove. Marketa Lazarova is very realistic in detail (as other reviewers have remarked), but (unlike some recent American and British films set in the Middle Ages) it does not make a fetish of the dirt and squalor. The cruelty is also shown in the context of a harsh world, where revenge and displays of power were necessary to maintain one's position. And it goes with the sardonic humor of the film. The only knight in shining armor, for instance, is an ineffectual status symbol. But the film also portrays a conflict in which both sides have their virtues: the bonds of family affection and loyalty in the outlaw clan, which come out in the father's final scene with his dying son; and the king's effort to maintain some semblance of order that will allow ordinary people to live their lives. By contrast, most American and British medieval epics are fantasies, featuring a struggle between stereotyped good versus evil characters.

A sweeping, widescreen black and white 13th century historical epic, voted the best Czech film ever by a survey of Czech film critics in 1998 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Czech cinema, some truly spectacular imagery by Bedrick Batka, endless snowy landscapes with wolves running in the snow, original Medieval sounding chorus music written by Zdenek Liska which throbs throughout, like an unseen heart. With a FEW SPOILERS, this is truly a heartless story of two rival families, both are nearly indistinguishable, one is described as having more sons than sows, both appear equally cruel and tormenting, abducting one of the King's family, the kidnapped victim then falls in love with one of the earthy daughters, then one of the families kidnaps Marketa, an unbelievable performance by Magda Vasaryova, who plays the innocent, virginal daughter who has been promised by her father to the convent, a complete contrast to everything else seen on screen, which appears vile and dirty, rotten to the core, except Marketa. But she becomes the lover of the kidnapper, more like his slave, knowing no other protector, all have abandoned her, as her family was nearly wiped out in her capture, her father crucified to the entrance fence of her family's fortress. Evil is everywhere. But the King's Sheriff, representing the rule of German Christians, decides to hunt down the evil-doers, the hunters become the hunted, which results in a ferocious, mass slaughter, humanity becomes unhinged. Hell raises it's weary head. In an extraordinary transformation, the earthy daughter plunges a rock to her lover's head after his King wipes out her family, so much for love, and Marketa is led to the convent, nuns are arranged like paintings on the walls, a ritual of God's peace and forgiveness is rejected by Marketa. Unbelievably, she returns to be married to her kidnapper in his last, dying breath. She has become transformed into pure evil, with nowhere to wander in the desolate, wintry countryside except with a simpleton with a flair for Biblical verse, who chases off after a goat instead of tending to Marketa, who wanders alone, seemingly forever.