Jan Nemec and Pavel Juracek (b. 1935) also believed in this uniqueness, and in nonprofessional actors as its main interpreters. But for all that, their approach was almost diametrically opposed to that of the aforementioned trio. They did not use slice-of-life portrayals as their point of departure, but rather the whole, the philosophical fable, a metaphor for which they sought and found concrete forms of expression that frequently were not fleshed out with details until the shooting itself. This was true particularly of Nemec and his scenarist and art director, Ester Krumbachova (b. 1923). Nemec's feature debut "Diamonds of the Night" ("Demanty Noci" - 1964), still had a realistic foundation- it was based on Arnost Lustig's story of two Jewish boys who escaped from the Nazis as they were being taken to a concentration camp. But director Nemec and cameraman Kucera transformed the story into an almost abstract vision of young people persecuted by a hostile world with which they strive in vain to establish contact- a world that is most tellingly represented by a group of impotent old men in a position of power, who in the end organize a hunt for the two helpless boys. Jan Nemec went on to shoot one segment of the episodic film, "Pearls at the Bottom" ("Perlicky Na Dne" - 1965). Hrabal's short stories formed the basis for all the episodes of the film., which brought most of the leading members of the 'young wave' together. But it was "Report on the Party and the Guests" ("O Slavnosti A Hostech" - 1966), that revealed Nemec's full range of talents. Nemec transformed a philosophical morality play about man's indifference to the fate of other's, about his willingness to accept force and violence, and even to voluntarily become its tool, into a film metaphor, a series of human situations that are experienced before our eyes by 'ordinary' people that most of us, the viewers, can identify with. This autoreflection- which was a common trait of the films of the 'young wave', along with the effort to capture and demystify social realities- was drawn to its inevitable conclusion when all the 'voluntary' participants in that odd, morbid party set out willingly, accompanied by a pack of dogs, to track down the only one of the 'guests who simply couldn't take it and fled the party. The fight to overcome the banning of the film became one of the lessons in the school of practical politics that was attended in those years by all Czechoslovak artists. The struggle ended in 1968, when, at least for the time being, the film was released for public screening. In the meantime, Nemec made "Martyrs of Love" ("Mucednici Lasky" - 1967), three surreal and comic dream stories about the unfulfilled amorous hopes of heroes who had been variously trodden on by destiny. No matter how obvious it was that this film represented a temporary digression from his fundamental concerns- no one imagined that it would be his last film until the mid-seventies- something to fill the gap until he could work with more significant material, "Martyrs of Love" was clear evidence of Nemecs maturity, of his ability to give an intruiging shape and style to any film material.
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