Zeus

Pictures Of The Old World (1972)

• Director
  • Dusan Hanák
• Writer
  • Dusan Hanák

  Somehow the all-encompassing benefits of the socialist "paradise" of Czechoslovakia bypassed the group of old farmers shown in this 1972 documentary almost entirely, and they are shown bravely coping with dire poverty and privation. A plucky bunch, their bravery makes the fact that they have not received any benefits from the regime even more difficult to stomach. It's surprising that this film was even allowed to be made, but when it was, it was put on the shelf until 1988 when it aired at the Nyon International Film Festival in Switzerland, a festival of documentary films. There, it won top honors.