Seeing the film "Larks on a string" is one of those surprises, that make life pleasant. It reminds of the famous Charlie Chaplin film "Modern times", so need I say more? The main characters run the risk of being crushed by the anonymous system, but they are somehow saved by their decent nature. Indeed "Larks on a string" ends with the incitement to "find yourself". Still it is not a banal remake of "Modern times". In fact the many stereotypes and the surrealistic scenery (mainly a depot for disposed metals) remind of the Monty Python shows. The film was banned by the Leninist state, and therefore western spectators tend to assume that it must be critical about the system. However, this is not self-evident. Remember that the state financed its production in the first place! Indeed the scripts of Leninist films are often critical, but they target the human nature, and not the system! On the other hand in this case the narrative is truly atrabilious in its view on society. The only decent people appear to be the outcasts, the caught fugitives, and surprisingly the president. The president is unworldly, and seems to miss out on what happens around him. In fact his attitude is rather confounding, for without him the film would be just a criticism of the former Stalinist regime. The scenes of the prison camp (including barracks with straw mattresses, barbed wire and watch towers), the security police and the prison guards are depressing. Fortunately they are ridiculed in a Chaplin-Monty-like way, which is quite funny. For instance the guard falls in love with a picture of an angle and two children. The propaganda officer has glasses like saucers. The pioneer leader shows the fugitives to her class, and sighs: "The fascist beast never sleeps!" The little pioneers themselves try to tie red scarfs around the necks of the outcasts. The security officers drive around in an old nazist luxury car, and they seem to be everywhere. The outcasts are transported to the railway station in order to cheer the visiting president. The trade-union leader puts on a cap, when he enters the mill. There is a moving scene, when the fugitives and outcasts form a chain and hand on what appears to be cartridge shells. And of course there is the Chaplin-like innocent love affair between a fugitive and an outcast. Since she is imprisoned, they marry "by proxy" (a find of the local party official). In short, "Larks on a string" is recommended warmly. In order to really appreciate the mockery, you might consider seeing a "serious" Leninist film. For instance, "Spur der Steine". There are plenty among my reviews. And don't forget to comment, I love it!

menzel's "larks on a string" is even better than his "closely watched trains." supressed for decades in its home country this sharp, bitter and exuberant little comedy showcases its director's unique ability to mix humour and tragedy to great effect. a lyrical love story set in a scrapyard full of political dissidents who are occasionally carted off by secret police (never to return) if they talk out of turn. in the end it's an ode to the czech people, depicting them as refusing to be broken, full of a lust for life that cannot be contained even in the darkest times. some truly funny, great moments make for a deceptively simple, beautiful little movie.

Set in the late 1940s, the film concerns the treatment of suspect "bourgeois elements", a professor, a saxophonist, and a milkman, who are put to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation.

Director Jiri Menzel, a member of the Czech New Wave, became internationally famous in 1967, when his first feature film, "Closely Watched Trains", won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Then came "Larks", which was filmed in 1969, but not released until 1990! That is quite a feat.

Although interesting and a tad surreal, I have to wonder if the reception would have been different in 1969. Appropriately celebrated upon release in 1990, would it have had a bigger impact if it was out when the regime was still in charge?