Silent Barricade

In The Liberation of Prague, made during the period of normalisation, the theatrical adoration of the people, the Communist Party and the Soviet army comes across as fake and superficial. In the post-war Silent Barricade, however, the strongly constructive tone finds its justification. One could believe that this is how Vávra, Drda and a not insignificant part of the nation actually perceived the events depicted. ___ According to the film, the Red Army liberated Prague, which was being heroically defended by workers coordinated by the omniscient Communist Party. There is no doubt about who the ideological allies and enemies are in Silent Barricade. From the first day of the uprising, German civilians in stolen fur coats hastily flee the city; a French POW sighs “Liberté!” with a sense of relief at the sight of the fluttering tricolour in anticipation of the revolution taking shape at the barricades; and a Polish comrade, not long after jumping off a train, which was clearly on route to the concentration camp in Terezín, hurls a grenade at a German soldier. The Germans have to be driven out and eliminated, inspiration can be drawn from the glorious French Revolution and mutually beneficial international cooperation can be established with the Poles. There is at least some mention of the Americans, who “probably don’t want” to take part in the liberation of the capital, whereas the Russians “have to struggle for every kilometre”. Among all of the brave Czechs, there is, for the sake of “balance”, one opportunistic coward who contributes a single cobblestone to the construction of the barricades. ___ The Prague Uprising is ambiguously interpreted both as a spontaneous revolution of the working class and as a carefully organised event (with a cache of weapons) whose participants definitely find time to clarify their ideological position. The role of the Czech National Council and General Kutlvašr was also significantly scaled down in favour of the Communists. The military command of the uprising waits resignedly while the Communists put their lives on the line at the barricades. ___ I would be more willing to forgive the distortion of historical reality in Silent Barricade if it wasn’t so incredibly tiresome. In the attempt to chart the entire uprising in an inadequately small space, the characters are neither powerfully depicted nor sufficiently distinctive in terms of type. The individual dramas should obviously coalesce into a revolutionary collective struggle (the kissing of the pretty tram driver is also a collective act), but the individual actions play out independently of each other, without any intercutting or build-up to add dynamics and without the urgency the material deserves. The languorous pace is broken up at the very end of the film, when the only excitement is of course provided by the Red Army, whose arrival we have been anticipating for two hours together with the interchangeable characters. The price paid for ideological conformity is the film’s inability to draw us into the narrative and to thus convince us that this is the best interpretation of the Prague Uprising. 50% (2015-06-18) (less) (more)