Case for a Rookie Hangman / Pripad pro zacinajiciho kata is an original mix of absurdity, black humor, symbolism, satire, irony a grotesque. Lemuel Gulliver gets to the mysterious country Balnibarbi. Its capital city Laputa is flying in the air, but citizens of the country are not aware of it. Gulliver found his way to Laputa through a long chimney and returns to Balnibarbi to show them the truth. But his revelation is stealing people’s ideals. They don’t want to know the truth. They are not able to bear the fact that they are living in lies, in the submission of false myth, in the pitiful ignorance and darkness, in the unfortunate and forgotten part of the world. The last Gulliver's words in the film are "I said: Listen, Vyskoc, are the clock ticking backwards, or am I just dreaming? But he will say, what’s your problem, isn't it enough that you hear them ticking?" This latest film by an outstanding, prematurely deceased director came upon a misunderstanding of the normalizers after its release in 1969 and ended up in a vault.
Pavel Juracek was a great screenwriter of extraordinary films (e.g. Ikarie XB1, Sedmikrasky, Konec srpna v hotelu Ozon), which are unlucky for being critics' favourite. A lot of people get the impression that these films are intended only for a small group of enlightened individuals, but I have to say, that in my opinion, far more people will understand these works. Perhaps because of the prejudice that this is a difficult work, this film is not broadcasted in prime time and therefore many people do not know much about it. Pripad pro zacinajiciho kata is by many referred to as a depressing film with a large dose of politics. For me, the film is also fun, it is full of black humour, but at the same time has a unique style. I personally think that everyone can find something in Gulliver's wandering in the Balnibarbi land and flying Laputa. There is always some kind of re-education, either coming from communism, fascism, or various organizations that aim to educate.
If there is any movie from the Czechoslovak new wave worth seeing, then for me it is certainly this film.