The Camp of Fallen Women

Running time: N/A

It's a rare treat to see films which have such a powerful effect on our hearts and even rarer that we get the chance to see films from the Slovak Republic. Laco Halama's The Camp of Fallen Women fulfills both criteria with this outstanding tragicomedy about funny beginnings of dictatorship and sad end of hopes. The year is 1949. Europe has been split by the Iron Curtain with Stalinism growing exponentially in its eastern part. In post-war Czechoslovakia, the communist authorities ship a group of prostitutes to a re-education camp to be turned into "decent women and socially aware citizens." It may take two years the commander informs them. "Damn," one woman mutters. "In two years my figure will be ruined." The ensemble acting is uniformly superb. These funny, tragic, and entirely human characters will remain foremost in your mind as you ponder the filmmaker's thought-provoking commentary on the relationship between victims and oppressors. --Frank Elley