Krakatit

This is my first dive into Czechoslovakian cinema and boy what a spectacle it was!

Krakatit arrived a little after the first testing of an atomic bomb and, riding that wave of terror, horror and fear while it's new, Otakar Vávra put out his version of a substance so destructive it could blow up the whole world all by itself, that's how powerful this is. Of course it all is far from being authentic or scientific and serves more as a hyperbolization of a possible end if the people won't stop experimenting with explosives in their labs but is nonetheless scary and makes you very aware of the things that might come.

The brilliant chemist Prokop, played beautifully by Karel Höger, becomes a target of multiple people who are eager to get their hands on his powerful invention in order to become the masters of the world. It is a premise you have likely seen a hundred times already but this movie plays out a bit differently than expected. It gives plenty of room to speculate on the subject of war, deaths and destruction but the narrative doesn't give much information on what is actually going on while we're at it. It could all be just some feverish man's dream, there could be some truth to his story, a lot of truth or even an actual account of events that really happened. The director toys with you every single second and by doing so makes you doubt everything.

For a movie titled Krakatit it repeats this word just enough times to install fear in it and by the end of it you feel scared to your wits. It even begins to sound scary to you when you repeat it and it's no wonder - it was named after Krakatoa volcano which eruption in 1883 destroyed over 70% of land surrounding it and took thousands of lives with it.

Weird camera angles, symbolism, psychoanalysis and post traumatic side of it are surely inspired by Hitchcock's Spellbound and Trumbo's novel Johnny Got His Gun (some parts of it most probably inspired his own later movie version of the novel in return) which just goes to show how truly ageless this movie is. Perfect cinematography with not a single frame wasted on hollow expositions, fantastic music score that cools your blood down, outstanding production that doesn't defer much from that of Hollywood from that era and great performances - it all takes you on one of the most nightmarish journeys in your movie lifetimes, gives you some headscratchers along the way and makes you think hard.

I can count in one single hand Czech pictures in my collection, when Krakatit reach at me as Science Fiction drawing my attention his provenance due I had a fabulous "Ikarie XB1" which is high gold standard, however Krakatit overcomes it in many levels, where a scientist Prokop (Karel Hoger) was found unconscious and seriously wounded at Praga's hospital as unknown man, during his grievous treatment he was lost in all sort of hallucinations in the meandering ways of a sick mind, he meets many people who wants got his successful formula of the Krakatit a kind of dusty with a explosive power, an analogy of a nuclear bomb, for military purposes, he didn't agreed such offers, he wandering for through many places looking for his former classmate Jiri Tomes (Miroslav Homola) to delivers a letter gave by an unknown woman, during this journey portrayed on surrealism format on gloomy atmosphere, where many things no make sense, the director supposedly imposes in the picture a character akin with Hitler, an anti-war picture when the final sequence an old man suggesting him a peaceful use of dangerous Krakatit, he at long last he perceives that can developing and driven this energy, to warm and enlighten the mankind, also well photographed on bright black and white at glorious way, near masterpiece!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 9.25

A man is found wandering on the streets and sent to the hospital in a near-death condition. While the medical team treats him, he dreams with his last moments after the explosion of his laboratory. He was researching a powerful explosive named Krakatit and his guilty makes him travels in a nightmare seeking peace in his mind.

"Krakatit" is a weird dream-like Czech movie. In 1948, it was probably a little gem. But today it is a little tiresome, although worthwhile watching. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Krakatit"

In the brief window of opportunity between the WW2 expulsion of the Nazis and the Communist take over, the Czech cinema produced films which appear to be superior to those done there before or for decades to come. KRAKATIT is the most remarkable of them we know.

It's the work of long time survivor director Vavra and features his regular leading man Hoger and globe trotting leading lady Marly (L'ALIBI, SEALED VERDICT, PLANET OF BLOOD) who has a comparatively small role and it treats a story by Capek, the country's then famous author of "R.U.R" the play that gave the word robot to the world. The original, I'm told, did not contain the A bomb analogy the film uses.

Slipping in and out of hallucination Hoger fantasizes about the ultimate explosive. The black and white imagery and the structure are well on the way to being the most imaginative of it's day. The laboratory scene anticipates one famous American film of the sixties in a way unlikely to be a coincidence. The brooding, damp atmosphere the film communicates lingers in the memory of most people who see it.

Vavra remained the industry's key figure but failed to match this work which should be more widely circulated.

I saw this film once 46 years ago and it left an indelible impression on me.

It brings out a strange and beautiful romanticism from the Capek novel. It delves into the angst that Szilard, Fermi and Oppenheimer might have felt regarding the development of the A-Bomb.

It takes you on quite a journey.