LARKS ON A STRING

Encouraged at least in' part by the events of the Prague Spring of 1968, Jiri Menzel took advantage of the artistic freedom which had been briefly won to expose the hypocrisy of the Communist party in LARKS ONA STRING. In a scrap metal dump, a handful of “volunteers” -intelligent men who have offended the Party spend day after day sorting debris and flirting with women prisoners. A clandestine romance develops between one young couple, and kind-hearted authorities at the dump allow them to be married. Because she is imprisoned, however, the young bride's grandmother stands in for her at the wedding, and the couple's honeymoon is delayed for two years until each is released. A diverse collection of richly drawn characters helps to make LARKS a fascinating and revealing film. Banned by the Czech government upon its completion, the film received its first screening this February at the Berlin Film Festival where it was awarded the prestigious Golden Bear, Berlin's top prize.