Based on a novel by Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) and co-scripted by the author, this dark and ironic film was shot during the Prague Spring of 1968. After ending a postcard with a humorous reference to Trotsky, a young man is sentenced to years of hard labor for his joke. Upon his release, he sets out to take revenge by seducing the wife of the Communist Party official who turned him in. The film and book were subsequently banned in Czechoslovakia. Author and critic Amos Vogel called this film possibly the" most shattering indictment of totalitarianism to come out of a Communist country...a chilling examination of a corrupt society. In Czech with English Jaromil Jires---Czechoslovakia---1968---80 mins."Directed by: Jires, JaromilRunning time: 80Year: 1968Czech with English Subtitles
