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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
When Beginnings Are Ended : Zeman's Allegorical Romance, April 20, 2003
Warning! - This review contains references to the film's ending ( not in terms of the mechanics of the plot but in terms of its overall significance & emotional resonance [ ie happy/sad - that sort of thing ] ).This film is superb - as usual with Zeman. Although not quite as sublime as his "Baron Munchausen" it is still first rate : The romance is well developed & moving, the effects surreal & psychedelic, and the anti-war & anti-imperialism / anti-colonialism themes are expressed passionately and, at the end in particular; poignantly. A most moving example of this also occurs in the first few minutes. The film is set somewhere in a late-19th century North African country ( French Algeria probably , although I may be mistaken ) which becomes detached from the rest of the planet Earth when it is dislocated by the gravitational pull of a passing comet which it is then adjoined to ! Before these events happen, we see a white colonial army officer travelling in the air by balloon who casually discards his cigar. We then cut to the ground where we see a young black boy on or next to a beautiful arabic/african carpet laid out on the ground. The discarded cigar then lands on this carpet, burning a large hole in it while a black & bilious cloud of smoke rises from it.... . As I said : Very moving and especially pertinent & poignant right now - I am thinking of course of the American/British invasion of Iraq & the attempt of these governments to effectively colonize / control that country & region.
The incredibly moving ( and sad - be warned ! ) final part of the film brilliantly unites these themes with the fate of the two main characters ( & to the other characters also ) :
This ending - as well as dealing with disillusionment in general - is clearly a symbolic reference to the brutal crushing of the Prague Spring ( ie the cultural-social-political loosening/liberation which was taking place under the Dubcek government in Czechoslovakia, which was ended by the invasion of that country by the imperialist USSR in 1968 ).
It is a poetical reference to the end of those beautiful and utopian dreams which many of the Czech & Slovak peoples had been dreaming & starting to actually implement at that time. With reference to this theme : The film was Zeman's first after the events of '68. It was released in 1970 & was made between 1968-1970 I think. If you compare its overall tone to that of the Zeman film which preceded it - ie "The Stolen Balloon" ( 1967 ) made during the period of liberalization - the difference is very noticeable : In "The Stolen Balloon" the whole film is essentially joyful, light-hearted & celebratory.
In fact all of Zeman's feature films up to this point have happy endings & are generally hopeful in tone - He is a film-maker renowned for these qualities :
Thus the conclusion of "On The Comet" is all the more resonant for ending very differently from those earlier works - and I'm sure this was not lost on the Czechoslovakian & other audiences of the time.
On the surface the film is referring to 19th century & capitalist forms of imperialism - but it is clear that Zeman in the latter parts of the film is also referring to the imperialist forms which his own country was experiencing.
I would imagine that most people who saw the film at the time of its original release - except it would seem the state censorship bodies who passed it for release ( who were sometimes incredibly unperceptive & literal apparently; & thus unmindful of subtleties ) - would have noticed & appreciated Zeman's barely concealed comment on the recent national crisis. Having said this there is a lot of humour ( & beauty & hope at times also ) in the film. For example the comical elderly head of the French military ( who I could imagine performing alongside the Marx Brothers - possibly as a straight man for them to rebel against ! ), or the ridiculous giant fly which is shot down. The effects are other-worldly & sublime - especially the comet's shining aura & Zeman's customary masterly & individualistic use of colour.
One thing should be made clear : One of the reviews here at Amazon says that the colour in the film print transferred to this video version has faded to sepia : This is definitely NOT the case !! ( Although the reviewer is correct about the sides of the image being clipped to fit the full screen ratio) :
Large sections of the film were filmed through a sepia coloured filter - or some other technique was used to give that effect - because Zeman quite consciously wanted the film in those places to have the appearance of a moving version of old sepia photographs, postcards, pictures & the like.
However, having said this, & after having viewed a European version of the film; it is clear that although the sepia & other colour effects are definitely intentional, the print used here for this US video release has probably suffered additional yellowing ( via ageing of the filmstock presumably ).
I say this because in the European version, it is clear from the paler & almost white elements in the images ( eg some of the backgrounds & other parts of shots ) that the actual ( European version ) film stock is clean & unyellowed ( although not otherwise restored )- thus those paler elements just mentioned have only a very slight sepia tinge in contrast to the visually darker parts of the image where the sepia effect is more prominent. Also in this film Zeman divides the screen ( mainly horizontally ) into different areas of colour; which is one of his favourite techniques.
In short : The print used for the video is actually quite good except for the probable yellowing just mentioned ( & the clipping of the image at the sides ) - ie bright when bright colours are used & doing some justice to the quiet luminosity of the poetical sepia effect. The only effects which when 1st seen do seem a bit ludicrous are the dinosaurs, which - although cute & endearing - do look obviously "unreal" in a different way from all the other surreally-unreal effects in the movie !
ie - They are supposed to be threatening but just seem cute & also its a bit like they've stumbled inadvertanently into the film from a monster movie of the period - even though dinosaurs are of course an established part of the sort of "lost worlds" type of literature which Zeman is using as the inspiration/foundation for his film. ( And specificaly the film is an adaptation of a Jules Verne novel. ) To conclude : This, like many of Zeman's films, is a great film; full of marvels and compassion and courage.
This video is a reasonably good version but of course, as with all of Zeman's work ( & far more so than with most film-makers ) it needs to be fully restored & released on DVD to do full justice to Zeman's use of texture & luminosity. The acting is fine & the romance between the two leading players ( Magda Vasaryova as Angelika & Emil Horvath as Lt. Sverderac ) is a joy to behold :
As part of this the beautiful deliberate dream-like idealization of the character played by the leading lady - which the direction carefully creates - is used in the final scenes to give the film a pathos which is both personal & romantic and symbolic of wider social & political events.
The result of this ( & other elements ) gives the film a sweeping emotional & spiritual dimension :
One which deals with romantic and utopian yearnings and the attempt to make these real - and more simply the ordinary wish for a better, more kinder, more loving tomorrow - and how sometimes such tender blossoms of beginning and hope are crushed - leaving a memory which is dream-like, bereft and forlorn ...
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DVD ~ Karel Zeman
