Dušan Hanák's renowned film (voted 'the best Slovak film of all time' by critics in 2000) is a poetic visual essay on the forgotten peoples of remote villages in the Tatra Mountains. Inspired by the photographs of Slovak artist Martin Martinček (1913-2004) whose pictures distilled entire lifetimes into luminous intransient images Hanák creates his own distinctive impressions of the artist's work crafting a polyphony of human stories. The film documents the lives of nine old people - the textures of faces of hands and of landscape predominate... alongside an obstinate vitality and desire for life. At odds with the Communist propaganda of the time its depiction of poverty punctuated with alcoholism religion and the hardships of the subjects' lives resulted in the film being withdrawn from release. Condemned for its 'aesthetics of ugliness' the film remained banned for many years. However Hanák's film is not a political polemical or even social film. It goes far deeper to more fundamental levels of human experience - its power and beauty lies in its unique portrait of a people who seem to have been forgotten by the modern world. Released for the first time ever in the UK the DVD is presented fom a new HD digital tansfer with restored picture and sound - plus new HD restorations of two of Dušan Hanák's acclaimed short films Mass (Omša 1967) and Old Shatterhand Came to Us (Prišiel k nám Old Shatterhand 1966). Special Features: New HD digital transfer with restored picture and sound. New HD restoations of Dušan Hanák short films Mass (1966) and Old Shatterhand Came to Us (1866). Booklet featuring a new essay by author and critic Jonathan Owen. New and improved English subtitle translation. [show more]
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Slovakian documentary written and directed by Dusan Hanák. The feature follows nine people living in the remote and forgotten villages of the Tatra mountains as they struggle with dire poverty and deprivation - a sharp contrast to the communist propaganda of the time which promised citizens a socialist paradise. Amongst the lives documented are farmers, spiritualists and the elderly who struggle with disabilties and addictions on a daily basis. Banned by the state upon its initial release, the film was only allowed to surface 16 years later.
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