FUNERAL CEREMONY

br /> Denounced in 1969 as ?an aberrant work,? this austere and poignant drama was first released last year after 20 years of suppression. During the collectivization of farming in the 1950s, Czech farmers were stripped of their property and given small, poor rooms in state housing units. In one of these rooms, Matylda?s husband has died. She is determined to have him buried in his family?s tomb, but her efforts to make these ?unusual? arrangements are met by only cowardice, hypocrisy, selfishness and fear. Accusing the state of devastating injustices committed in the name of ?higher interests,? this is a true and moving story about death and the resurrection of fundamental human values.