Larks on a String (DVD)

Shot in 1968 whilst Czechoslovakia enjoyed a brief moment of political liberalization, Larks on a String is a searing political comedy from director Jiří Menzel and writer Bohumil Hrabal. Like their earlier Oscar-winning triumph Closely Observed Trains, it audaciously combines black humour with grim reality. Set in a scrap metal yard where political dissidents are interned for 're-education', the film is both a powerful critique of totalitarianism and a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit. By the time Larks on a String was completed, the Soviet invasion had restored a repressive Communist regime. The film was promptly banned and remained unseen until 1990, when it was finally released to great acclaim winning the grand prize at the Berlin Film Festival that year. Presented in a new digital restoration with remastered picture and sound, a newly filmed piece with director Jiří Menzel and a new extended essay on the film, Menzel and Hrabal by author Peter Hames.