Happy End

"On behalf of the republic, we cut your head!" That's how Dne Yppah (read it backwards) starts. And I thought I will see one of those parodies of the communist regime, typical for the Czech, Hungarian, Polish or Yugoslavian cinema of the '60s - 70s. In those former communist countries, you could have your head cut or hanged or shot if, for example, you dared to speak bad about the communist state statutes and politics. In Romania, before 1989, many jokes circulating were about the dictatorial regime. One of them said that if you tell political jokes, you can choose yourself a self-criticism, self-police-van or a self-autopsy... In conclusion, this is not an awakening of the soul through spiritual knowledge. This is an unique, original film. Through sarcasm, Oldrich Lipský, who offered us also the western parody Lemonade Joe(1964), now makes us complicit with this Happy End (1967), a total parody of life, including birth, love, wedding, death. But everything is lived opposite, that begins with the death (execution by guillotine) and ends with birth. All the actors are impeccable and the whole film, although spoken, has the air of a comedy from the silent era of Chaplin or Buster Keaton.

I haven't laughed this hard at a film in so long. I had always been looking for this film, but forgot about it until I saw it on offer from an independent company. It really does run 100% in reverse. Dialogue is mouthed backwards, tears run upwards - everything. The story line is a stroke of genius though. Forwards, it might have made a nice, if dull, murder mystery, but played in reverse it becomes a different story entirely - and almost conceivable. The copy I bought had very questionable subtitles, which only brought on more laughter, but it was still easy to understand. Why this never had its day is beyond me - bring it back!

Have you seen Gaspar Noe's ""Irreversible"? How about Cristopher Nolan's "Memento"? Do you know of "Benjamin Button"? Well, this movie is about thirty years older and, in terms of concept, way more "outside the box" than any of the above. Plus, it's really FUNNY!

Now here's the thing. The "actual" story is about a butcher killing his wife and her lover, then being put in jail and eventually executed. But all this, you never see. What you do see, is "all this" reversed, aka the movie begins with the execution of the butcher and goes backwards from there. And when I say "backwards", I really mean backwards! People walk in reverse, talk in reverse, eat in reverse. And on top of all that, there is a voice-over narrating in real time, thus putting together a whole new, totally surreal, perversely funny story.

This is definitely one of the most interesting movies I 've ever seen. It's funny, it's original, it's a must watch.

This film will really make you think different.

The story is about a husband who kills his wife, but it's not important.

The great idea is something else: the WHOLE film was shot backwards. Even the dialogues are spoken backwards. (I guess it was quite hard, because the actors had to speak backwards and then they had to dub themselves. Sounds a bit complicated, doesn't it? =) So the film starts with the execution of the main character and it ends when he is born.

This will turn your brain upside down! =)