...a pozdravuji vlaštovky (...And Give My Love to the Swallows). 1972. Czechoslovakia. Directed by Jaromil Jireš. Screenplay by Jireš and Zora Beráková. With Magdalena Vášáryová, Viera Strnisková, Július Vašek. 35mm, courtesy Národní filmový archiv. In Czech; English subtitles. 86 min.
This biopic of the last days of Marie Kudeříková, a 22-year-old Czechoslovak antifascist resistance fighter executed by the Nazis, was directed by New Wave filmmaker Jaromil Jireš (The Joke) after the Soviet occupation. As a work of hagiography, it was conceived and released in the first years of normalization to celebrate the bravery of communist antifascists at a time when, in government, party members were disgracing themselves. An aura of mournful defeat hangs over the film, with Jireš’s once-manic style dialed back as he maps out a dreary prison routine. Magda Vášáryová plays Kudeříková less as a martyr than as a girl groping at an adult political reality, goofing around with fellow prisoners between brutal interrogations. As the film shows, even that freedom will eventually be extinguished.