322

By : Dusan Hanak

With : Václav Lohniský, Lucyna Winnicka, Josef Josef Abrhám, Vladimír Weiser
Slovaquie, 1965, 95 min
DVD zone 2, N&B,
8.00 €


Directed by : Dusan Hanak

With : Václav Lohniský, Lucyna Winnicka, Josef Josef Abrhám, Vladimír Weiser
Slovakia, 1965, 95 min
DVD zone 2, N&B,

Original Slovakian version with French subtitles

A story of a man threatened by a fatal illness evaluating his life (the number 322 in the film title stands for the diagnosis of one kind of cancer). He understands his illness as a form of punishment for his cruel deeds in the 1950s. In the face of reality and his eforts to cleanse himself he hits a barrier of indifference, lack of interest, and individual and collective selfishness. He has to findhis own reconciliation with his illness and his past and present life.

The Slovak director Dusan Hanak was one of Czech cinema's brightest and best talents of the '60s and '70s, but because of censorship this was not manifest until the late '80s. Hanak made an impact on the film world with his auspicious debut 322 (1969). Though banned until 1988, when it was finally released, it earned international acclaim and the Grand Prix award at the Mannheim Film Festival. Hanak's sophomore effort, the documentary IMAGES OF AN ODL WORLD (OBRAZY STAREHO SVETA, completed in 1972), was also not released until 1988 and neither was his 1980 film I LOVE YOU LOVE (JA MILUJEM, TY MILUJES). Hanak's next film, directed in 1976, ROSE TINTED DREAMS (RUZOVE SNY) turned out to be another original work.

DVD release : May the 23rd