A Report on the Party and the Guests

Jan Nemec’s absurdist tale of a group of bourgeois party guests who get slyly roped into a fascist power structure might bring to mind Pasolini, Buñuel or even Haneke (“Haneke” seems to be more and more a dirty word these days as the backlash gets stronger) but what it most made me think of was Kafka.  The grasp of power occurs not with guns and violence, but an insidious subterfuge that mostly involves confusing, placating and flattering your victims.  By the end of it, you’re conforming to a totalitarian regime without even realizing it, and in his film Nemec efficiently runs through the gamut of various methods employed.

Despite the wit and biting commentary of the script, however, it does feel a little bit on the obvious side.  Nemec couldn’t have been too surprised when the film was banned, and I wonder if that might even have been his goal.  The political allegory at play here is very transparent… despite its somewhat surrealist attitude, there’s little room for alternate interpretations.

Ultimately the movie is effective in spite of its transparency (besides, I’ve seen much less subtle allegories) because of its incisive power.  Although specific in its response to Communism in Czechoslovakia, its insights into human response to such forms of manipulation are universal and lasting.  Rating: Good (77)

IMDb