Lenin, Lord and Mother

It could almost be said that this is a Karel Kachyňa film. It is shot in his style with unique poetics in a tragicomic spirit and in black and white, which is meant to evoke a retro atmosphere. It is paradoxical that this little-known film, which appears on the screen only exceptionally, easily surpasses many titles that television airs after a few months. I would even say that it surpasses the overwhelming majority of films that want to deal with the past because it was created shortly after the fall of communism when the Barrandov studio's infrastructure and its creative teams had not yet disintegrated. It also does not have the cheap thematic opportunism present in its younger counterparts. It views the years of Stalinism through the eyes of a child, so certain simplifications and idealizations are not a problem. Overall impression: 85%. (03/19/2012)