Case for a Rookie Hangman (1970)

Waste of Money.

Sadly Over-hyped

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

With Christmas coming up,I started to look around for a Czech New- Wave (CNW) title that I could give a friend as a gift.Talking to a DVD seller,I was very happy to find out that he had recently tracked down a CNW title based on Gulliver's Travels,which led to me getting ready to witness a swift hanging.The plot:Watching his car roll down a hill, Lemuel Gulliver looks across the road,and notices a dead hare lying by the road,which along with having a watch, is also dressed in a human-style uniform.Picking up the watch,Gulliver takes a closer look at the hare,and spots a strange looking chapel near by.Entering the chapel,Gulliver is met by the sight of his dead girlfriend Markéta.After having believed for years that Markéta had died,Gulliver begins searching round for her.Looking between the floorboards of the chapel,Gulliver discovers a group of people below.Falling to the group,Gulliver is told by the group that he has just landed on an island called Balnibarbi.Grabbing Gulliver,the residences begin to ask about his knowledge on an island called Laputa,which along with blocking the sun out,is also where Balnibarbi's king and government are based.Walking through a door, Gulliver goes to his doctor,to tell him about a strange dream,which began with him picking up a watch from a dead hare.Catching Gulliver completely by surprise,the doctor tells Gulliver that what he has experienced is not from a dream,but a doorway to a new reality.View on the film:Opening his last ever film (he would shortly spend the next few decades blacklisted,and die just before the fall of the Berlin Wall) with an apology to Jonathon Swift,writer/director Pavel Jurácek shows with his dazzling eye that he has nothing at all to apologise for his brave adaptation of Gulliver's Travels.Bouncing fantasy surrealism across the screen via giving the "ghost" of Markéta a flame like appearance and making buildings crumble across the screen, Jurácek and cinematographer Jan Kalis give the title a stark Film Noir atmosphere,thanks to Jurácek and Kalis using shadows as a backdrop to Gulliver's world.Along with the stylish use of shadows, Jurácek and Kalis give the worlds of Balnibarbi and Laputa contrasting appearances, with the residence of Laputa having large dining tables and elegant clothes,whilst the people on Balnibarbi are stuck in a nuclear wasteland,whose only hope comes from see Laputa up above.Sliding smoothly across Swift,Lewis Carroll and Kafka,the screenplay by Jurácek smartly uses Gulliver's fantasy roots to deliver a harsh statement on the country's communist rule(which would lead to the film getting banned for decades),with Jurácek showing everyone on Balnibardi to hold a blindly-held idealise on their rulers in Laputa,who Jurácek shows are prepared to use any lies in order to give the people a false mythical image of their uncaring rulers.Along with the islanders fantasy, Jurácek also gives a strong suggestion that Gulliver's glimpses of Markéta are from a memory frozen in time,which has barely any connection to the romantically unsatisfying reality.Whilst Pavel Jurácek packs the film with extremely intelligent,subtle criticism on the country's communist rule,Jurácek loosens his grip on the films fantasy elements,which leads to the movies plot feeling slightly disjointed,and not entirely built on even a basic foundation,as Gulliver sets off on his travels to make a case for a rookie hangman.

Case for a Rookie Hangman is a wondrous journey of Lemuel Gulliver to the lands of absurd. It's a brilliant adaptation of Jonathan Swift's classic in the form of postmodern comedy. "Everyone knows how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas by his contrivance, the most ignorant person at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, may write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, law, mathematics and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study. He then led me to the frame, about the sides whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty foot square, placed in the middle of the room. The superficies was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood were covered on every square with papers pasted on them; and on these papers were written all the words of their language in their several moods, tenses, and declensions, but without any order. The professor then desired me to observe, for he was going to set his engine at work." Rejoice, Jonathan Swift was an inventor of a computer and the first programmer! The film is wittily hilarious.

This movie is about our childhood dreams. Lemuel Gulliver is seeking his love (who he lost in teenage years) in strange land full of strange people. But the story isn´t so main for this movie but atmosphere and feelings. You find yourself dreaming about your childhood dreams, strange adult world around you and maybe you find there are still interesting places and miracles in the world around you.

This motion picture tells us about the special trip of a very special gentleman named Pan Gulliver who was really surprised finding a rabbit Oscar on the road, wearing the checked shirt with the short trousers. Two minutes later we learn about the Balnebard's country where the people keep silent one day a week sparing the air, where there is an immortal poet living on the railway-station.This strange surreal world where black is white and white is black is headed by a king who is working now as a doorman in Monte-Carlo. Now there is only one person living in the castle - Prince Milevin - who's got nothing except excessive consumption of all the castle's wine-storage.Too many uncertain questions with too few certain answers.A great cameraman's and director's work. They perfectly created the specific space of Balnebards's terrarium.