Der Leichenverbrenner – Spalovač mrtvol

Based on the novella by Ladislav Fuks.

Prague, late 1930s: Karl Kopfrkingl leads a perfect life. Everything is clean and has its proper place. He loves his work as much as his family, caring for his wife and two children with the same tenderness he shows towards the dead whose bodies he cremates every day. Guided by his Buddhist belief that cremation shortens earthly suffering, he approaches his work with genuine enthusiasm. His reasoning is simple: while a corpse left in a coffin takes years to decompose, cremation takes just 90 minutes. In a sense, it is an express ticket to heaven. Until now, he has been content to make his contribution on a modest scale. But when an old friend tells him about a political party enjoying great success in Germany, he begins to wonder whether he is really doing enough to help bring about salvation...

Shortly after its premiere in 1969, the film was banned by the communist regime and locked away in the so-called “vault”. Some of those involved, including actress Vlasta Chramostová, were banned from working in their profession. It was not until after the fall of the Iron Curtain that the film was officially screened again, from August 1990 onwards.

“A completely singular work in the history of cinema ... A masterpiece of calm images, expressionist black and white and orchestral sounds, but also of the wildest compositions, fluid, seemingly seamless transitions between scenes, subjective wide-angle perspectives and calmly delivered monstrosities, at the end of which everyone becomes a victim, while the crematorium foreman emerges as the purifier of the world.” — taz