Paid subscribers get two extra issues a month. One of those is ET Watch Home, a monthly movie essay. This year, each of the movies is a Czech (or, if you prefer, Czechoslovak) New Wave staple. This month, we have Juraj Jakubisko’s Birds, Orphans, and Fools (1969). I was supposed to send this out last week, didn’t, and then claimed in my Friday newsletter that I had? I apologize! Thank you for your patience!
The Czech New Wave, as the little above graf suggests, was really the Czechoslovak New Wave. It involved both Czech and Slovak artists, and some Slovak directors, too. Birds, Orphans, and Fools is maybe(?) the most famous of the Slovak directorial offerings from this period.
I once told my mom that I’d read that Slovak art from this period tended to be more “folkloric” than its Czech counterpart. She is a quarter Slovak and said this was insulting. But it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good thing. It’s what gives Birds, Orphans, and Fools its playful, magical quality, and it’s that texture and heart that keeps it from flying off into surreal pretentiousness.
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