Sunday, March 4, 2007

Hej rup!

Back in 1934, Jiri Voskovec and Jan Werich starred in "Hej rup!", which they co-wrote with Vaclav Wasserman and Martin Fric; the latter directed it. It's a comedy with lots of music, slapstick, and working class empowerment. Facets.org sum it up, "the plot concerns an industrialist and labor organizer working together to create their own socialist nirvana," but really what the duo does is organize a milk-and-dairy-manufacturing co-op, and they successfully compete with the large corporations on the capitalist market. Moreover, there is a whole scene where they mock the Soviets, or state socialism by implication, just as they mock corrupt capitalism. Czech satire at its best!

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