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| Return of the Prodigal Son | |||
"Ewald Schorrn was a key figure of the Czech New Wave, one of the most vibrant of national cinemas for a few exciting years in the mid-sixties (before the Soviet invasion of 1968). His work is evety bit as formally innovative as that of many of his compatriots but his attention to psychological detail and treatment of demanding intellectual material creates an intelligent, mature cinema closer to Antonioni's trilogy or contemporary work by Bergman." – Andrew Langridge "A film which is peaceful, serene and meditative, I would almost say introverted, like its protagonist: static camera, very fluid editing, little music, some few sounds (planes, birds) which pierce the death-like silence. A sombre, tragic but not pessimistic film, its purity, its refinement, the constant splendour of its images prevent it from descending to the banal." – Marcel Martin, Cinema '68 "Everything in the film is in half-tones - from the camera to the dialogue. There is a kind of bewitching magic of absolutely serious art about it, the cathartic effect of a classical tragedy." – Josef Skvorecky, All the Bright Young Men and Women: A Personal History of the Czech Cinema "Return of the Prodigal Son was a compelling study of alienation, the story of an intellectual contemplating suicide. His problems lie in a refusal to adapt and accept compromise even if it is "consecrated by a great cause," Rather cleverly, the film reveals the unsatisfactory nature of the lives of those who have compromised and the way in which the hero's problems are central to society as a whole." – Peter Hames, 'Towards the Prague Spring', The Movie "In his later films, Schorm remained one of the most controversial directors, an uncompromising moralist in the best sense of the word. In his The Return of the Prodigal Son, he posed the question that was later to become a supremely important one, particularly in the Soviet Union - is it a sign of social or individual normality when the individual's inability to make a moral compromise is classified as madness?" – Mira & Antonin Liehm, The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film After 1945 |
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| Navrat ztraceneho syna, Czechoslovakia 1967 | |||
Director: Ewald Schorm In Czech with English subtitles 103 mins, 16mm GA cert Hamilton Film Society |
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