A cautionary tale about the myriad shades and shapes of totalitarianism in an irreverent, surreal 1960s mix of styles featuring acerbic Austrian cabaret icon Helmut Qualtinger speaking in tongues. An exemplary, at the time widely lauded work of West German animation.
A baleful limping man walks through Prague. He is Asmodeus (Juraj Herz), the fiend of lustfulness, entertaining himself by putting together by magic couples of lovers.
A Southern soldier in the American Civil War is sent to reconnoiter the enemy positions and becomes trapped beneath a huge pile of rubble by Northern cannon fire.
"In my film I suggest that there is no greater mystery than that of the protagonists. War and Love are simply equated for what they are; the aftermath is inevitable, and a normal human condition, for which like the ancients one can only have pity and understanding.
Centring on the legend of the four ancient Chinese heroines, the film was a novelty for audiences at the time, as the singing performance was in Cantonese and used huangmei operatic rhythms—a popular trend in the 1960s, yet it retained traditional flavours by using operatic luogu percussion in the battle scenes.
Three identical prints of a single 100 foot fixed-camera take are shown from beginning to end-roll light-flare, with a few feet of blackness preceding/bridging/following the rolls.
A group of Northern vigilantes, roaming the post Civil War south, attack and kill the fiancee of war veteran Brian, who is rescued by his friend, Daniel.
Comments
Have you watched Hands Up Mr. Rasnichi yet? What did you think about it?