Program
Apr 14, 2015 7:00 PM
Burning Bush

TUESDAY FILM CLUB: BURNING BUSH (Hořící keř), dir. Agnieszka Holland, 2013. Epic film about Jan Palach, the student who set himself on fire in 1969.
Burning Bush
Hořící keř | Agnieszka Holland 2013
Czech Republic | Czech with English subtitles | 234 minutes
In January 1969, Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire to
protest the Soviet clampdown that followed Prague Spring. The terrible
historical moment that formed the backdrop of Palach’s heroic action is
recalled to vivid life in this passionately brilliant mini-series.
Agnieszka Holland and writer Štěpán Hulík trace the ripples of Palach’s
defiant gesture throughout Czech society and the moves and counter-moves
it set in motion by coercive and the coerced, the terrified many and
the courageous few: the young Dagmar Burešová (Tatiana Pohofuvá)
represents Palach’s defiant mother (Jaroslava Pokorná) in a libel suit
against a member of parliament (Martin Huba); her law partner (Adrian
Jastraban) is strong-armed into collaborating in order to protect his
firebrand daughter (Jenovéfa Boková); a secret police officer (Ivan
Trojan) grows disillusioned by his unpalatable job.
Holland was in
Czechoslovakia at the time these events took place and it makes a
difference: you feel like you’re breathing the very air of
Czechoslovakia under totalitarian lockdown.
Venue:
321 East 73rd Street
NY 10021
New York
United States
Date
Apr 14, 2015 7:00 PM
Organizer:
Czech Center