Dear all,
just to follow - briefly - on the Middle Age epics discussion: even if
the films I am suggesting are - to my mind - hard to get, at least in any
subtitled version, and may bracket the "epic" somewhat. (But do we all
not do that, nowadays?)
It seems that, to a great extent, the Eastern European cinema, besides
Russia, has fallen through the cracks, and there are quite amazing Czech
(and no doubt others, but those I do not know of) medieval films. One
should say, above all, that the "official" - I hate such terminology, but
it is useful to provide a point of reference - films of the 50s and
around, namely, Otakar Vavra's Hussite trilogy (Jan Hus, Jan Zizka, Jan
Rohac z Dube - all names - as far as I remember) are what later films
react to (perhaps mainly with a negation that is abstract), but also
great films! (You don't have to agree - they're hard to get so we
probably won't be able to argue.) However, Vavra himself made, in 1969,
the Witchhammer (Kladivo na Carodejnice): a baroque rather than a
medieval movie, but I believe - this we could argue about - the imaginary
fields are at least related. (Plus this allows one to speak of MP's
spanish inquisition. Synopsis - from the web, cinematheque.bc.ca) at the
end of this rant. This at least exists in a subtitled version.)
Speaking of the baroque, and thirty years' war in medieval imagery,
probably the best "medieval" film - if framed by irony rather than the
epic - I have seen is Hynek Bocan's Cest a slava (Power and Glory): I
can't think of a subtitled version (the Czech is around), but there are,
I think, synopses on the web. (There is another, quite wonderful, Czech
thirty years' war film - but as I can't remember now, and also as it is
not "medieval" strictly speaking, I'll get back on that.)
And further, as far as the response to the
historical epics above, films by Frantisek Vlacil:
Devil's Trap (1961), Marketa Lazarova and (1967) - which latter, but
perhaps even the former, is around subtitled - and The Valley of the Bees
(1968) which some critics hate, but  to me may be the best of the three.
Only the two latter ones are strictly *medieval*- all are wonderful.
Which is also to say that I would like to clarify - for myself - what
does constitute a "middle age epic": the "epic" may be more important
than the medieval, and perhaps everybody else is clear about this. But
what is it that is to be imagined - and can only be imagined through this
genre - is, I believe, a good topic to go on with if anyone's interested.
(The thirty year war - one thinks of Watkins's Culloden as well - is
clearly a means to pass more immediate meanings and judgments, *founded*
in a historical consciousness rather than making the latter their
object.)
 To end, some sources on Vlacil - in English -
http://www.ce-review.org/00/35/kinoeye35_hames.html
http://maxpages.com/czechcinema/14_Brynych_Danek_Vlacil.
And - the witchhammer:

WITCHHAMMER
(Kladivo na carodejnice)
Czechoslovakia 1969. Director: Otakar Vavra
Cast: Elo Romancik, Sona Valentova, Vladimir Smeral, Josef Kemr
A striking period drama set in northern Moravia in the late 17th century,
Witchhammer is based upon the historical records of the last witch trials
held in Czechoslovakia -- but, released in 1970, was obviously intended
as an allegory for the show trials of a much later, no-less-dark period
in Czechoslovak history. A ruthless, all-powerful inquisitor turns simple
peasant superstition into the stuff of serious heresy, and presides over
the burning-at-the-stake of dozens of innocent men, women, and children.
Directed by Otakar Vavra, whose filmmaking career stretches back to the
early 1930s, and co-written by Ester Krumbachova, one of the Czech New
Wave's leading screenwriters and art designers (Chytilova's Daisies,
Nemec's A Report on the Party and the Guests). "Savage. . . a difficult
and complex psychological study of vindictive cruelty" (Langdon Dewey).
"Awarded the Special Jury Prize at Mar del Plata . . . it provides an
eloquent parallel to the infamous political trials of the first half of
the Fifties" (Jan Zalman, International Film Guide). Novelist Josef
Skvorecky credits veteran Vavra with here outdoing "the New Wave in
erotic daring. . . In addition to its serious overtones, Witchhammer can
also be seen as a black mass of nudity, functionally utilized." B&W,
35mm, in Czech with English subtitles. 103 mins.

Best,
Simon Krysl

___________________________________________________
Simon Krysl
Graduate Program in Literature, Duke University
312 N Buchanan Blvd., #203
Durham, NC 27701-1747
(919) 680-3144

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