The Joke

One of the rediscovered treasures of the Czech New Wave, which flourished during the 1960s, Jaromil Jires's devastating adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel was made during the Prague Spring, but then banished to the vaults after the 1968 Soviet invasion. Josef Somr stars as Ludvik Jahn, a man whose hedonistic life is upended after he sends an irreverent postcard (with the message "optimism is the opium of the people") to a woman he is trying to seduce. Unfortunately, she's a Stalinist true believer and turns the postcard in to the authorities, resulting in Jahn's expulsion from the Communist party and being sentenced to hard labor. After 15 years, he returns to his village to exact revenge. A courageous indictment of totalitarianism that has lost little of its impact, this is highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)