Original subtitles

Hello, my name is Jir� Menzel

and l am the director of the film ''Larks on a String''.

l was born in Prague, and have lived in Prague all my life.

When l was just one year old, the German army invaded Prague.

When l was ten years old, the Communists took over

and ruled our country Czechoslovakia for 40 years.

So for more than 70 years, l have shared my destiny

both with Czechoslovakia and Prague.

''Larks on a String'' is a story

about the first years of the Communist regime.

Those first 10 to 15 years were the worst.

The Communists closed the border,

they established strict censorship and persecuted their political opponents -

they imprisoned them and even executed them.

Most of all, they were afraid of the middle classes,

especially the educated and the intelligentsia.

That's why many intellectuals, high school professors, philosophers,

writers, economists, even tradesmen and artists

were sent to do forced labour in the mines or to do other hard labour.

Many people didn't want to live behind the lron Curtain,

but those who tried to escape and cross the border

were captured, sentenced and imprisoned.

The writer Bohumil Hrabal wrote about those times,

when the Communist regime was at its harshest,

in a book of short stories.

He described the absurdity of those years with humour and irony.

Later, towards the end of the 60s,

during the Prague Spring of 1968, censorship was lifted,

and so we decided to make a film based on his book ''Larks on a String''.

My co-operation with Hrabal was ideal.

He knew that l held him in high esteem

and that l would not misuse his text to make a bad film.

On the other hand, l had learnt at film school

how to turn a literary text into a screenplay,

and hopefully into a good film.

The screenplay of ''Larks on a String'' is based on a book of short stories.

All the stories have the same location but different characters.

What was important was to make a coherent screenplay

based on all those different characters.

Hrabal used to say, ''We have to plait it all into one braid.''

When we were looking for a way to link the separate storylines,

how to unite these various characters,

l remembered an old political joke from the 50s:

The workers are ordered to attend a meeting

where a comrade gives a lecture explaining,

''ln the present, we have socialism,

''but in the future we will have communism.''

After the lecture, he asks the workers if they have any questions.

One of the workers raises his hand and says, ''lt's good that we have socialism

''and will soon have communism, but where is the bread,

''where is the milk, where is the butter?''

The comrade answers, ''This is a rather complicated question.

''Ask me again at the next lecture.''

A week later, the workers are ordered to attend another meeting,

and the same thing happens -

the comrade extols the virtues of socialism and communism,

and afterwards asks if anyone has any questions.

Another worker raises his hand and says,

''lt's good we have socialism and will soon have communism,

''but where is the bread, where is the milk, where is the butter,

''and where is the worker who asked about this last time?''

So this old political joke gave us the key

to the whole structure of the screenplay.

l have been lucky to have made five feature films

based on Hrabal's writings.

For my first film ''Closely Observed Trains'', based on a Hrabal story,

l was awarded an Oscar by the American Film Academy.

This was in the spring of 1968 and l had a promising career ahead of me.

But, in the summer of 1968,

the Soviet tanks invaded Czechoslovakia.

The Communists seized power again

and everything returned to the old ways - like in the 50s.

We managed to finish shooting ''Larks on a String''

but when the film was completed, it was immediately banned

and was not seen again for almost 20 years.

Hrabal and l and many other artists weren't allowed to work for many years.

At that time, l got many offers to work in Europe and the United States,

but could not accept any as they took away my passport.

When finally, after 40 years,

communist rule came to an end,

''Larks on a String'' was shown in cinemas

and even invited to various film festivals -

including to Berlin, where it won the main prize, the Golden Bear.

lt was funny - journalists did not want to believe the film was 20 years old.

Fortunately, the actor Vaclav Neckar accompanied me to the festival

and it was evident he was 20 years older -

unfortunately so was l.

When you ask me to compare the films made in the past 40 years

and in the current era, l am afraid l do not have a joyful answer.

lt probably happens to everyone when comparing the past with the present,

it always seems that the past is kinder.

l realise this, but in my opinion there is a glaring difference

between the films made 40 or more years ago and contemporary films

made in both Europe and America.

l am not talking about technical issues, but about content.

Films like ''La Strada'', ''A Streetcar Named Desire'',

''A Blonde in Love'', ''Wild Strawberries'' -

these films could not be made today.

Of course there are exceptions,

but to me, contemporary films the world over

take voyeuristic pleasure in violence, and aim to escape from real life.

The viewer today is fed a diet

of artificial worlds full of digital tricks and special effects,

and thrillers full of blood, violence, cruelty, car crashes and destruction.

lf l wanted to describe in one word

the difference between contemporary cinema

and the cinema l learned from,

l would say that the films of the present generally lack compassion.