Prague Spring

Birds, Orphans and Fools/Vtackovia, Siroty a Blazni (1969) - Jakubisko This allegorical tale of Czechoslovakia, post Prague Spring and following Warsaw Pact invasion, is all colors, beautiful decay, New Wave, Falstaff, concentration camp references, bizarre love triangle a la Jules et Jim, gaggle of children and...birds. Yorick and Andrej are manic fools horsing around war torn Bratislava.They pick up Martha, a Jewish waif who dons a Jean Seberg haircut. Martha goes back and forth between wise-ass Yorick and virginal Andrej until Yorick goes to jail for a year. Then the tragedy ensues as the brief narration in the beginning sequence predicts. There is definitely method in all the chaos. Birds, Ophans... is a maddeningly intoxicating cinematic experience.