Marketa Lazarova

Frantisek Vlacil in 1967, this is known as the consumation of his art, voted rather recently the greatest Czech film of all time.
An epic it is and an epic it is. In an expressionist, non linear way we have the histories of the two tribes. There are obvious parralels running through it, with the character (who doesn't appear for large stretches) of Marketa herself perhaps representing in some sense the Czech country and people. The rather worrying aquiescene of her, a kind of fatalism surrounding it, shows a country at the mercy of persecution and hardship.
Let's get the negatives sorted out first. This film is, frankly, very hard to concentrate on throughout. The story is 'told' in such a fashion, of jumps and expressionist cuts, that one isn't sure where one is. This destroys a sense of build up, of mounting tension. Constantly switching which character we follow dissapates the tension. It is a film lacking continuity. Vlacil has also never quite succeeded in capturing the images he wants. He doesn't appear to have quite the patience, will, or love of his landscape. He retreats to hand held or to moving, fast swishes , when a more baroque setting would have given us a sense of calm this piece lacks. Finally, the expressionist montage is frankly baffling for large parts. The script (a bad translation) appears to be a collection of slightly pretentious non sequiters.
This is a film of a certain grandeur, however, largely through a hardline brutalism and well conjectured themes. We really have a sense of the violence that is at once casual and still aching on those who give and recieve. No redemption, no classic narrative tie-ups, just a sense of life at its worst. And though we do not belive Vlacil captures it to its best, the widescreen evocations of the fields, the snow, and the landscape always stun as the frame in their open ended way. Their is some nice fun with contrast, leading to some images (the white snow against the dark sky) that give the appropriately apocalyptic images.
This is a film of fragments, which requires much patience in its build up, but does achieve a kind of twisted power. Far far from being perfect, with many faults, it is still a film that intrigues.