Czech Mate: The Films of Jaromil Jires - And give my love to the swallows / The Joke (2 DVDs)

Read more

Jaromil Jires quickly gained a reputation as a leading voice in the Czech New Wave, but problems with Communist censors over the content of his films affected his career. This exclusive two-pack features his powerful early work that earned him praise from around the world but branded him as trouble in the eyes of authorities.

"And give my love to the swallows" tells the true story of Maruska Kuderikova, a young Moravian girl who was part of the Czech Resistance during World War II. Maruska is arrested by the Nazis for her resistance work, an experience she chronicles in her diary, which forms the basis of the story.

Based on a novel by Milan Kundera, "The Joke" is a Kafka-esque tale of a young man sentence to years of hard labor for sending a postcard to a girl with a witticism about Trotsky. Upon release, he is determined to exact revenge for the injustice.