The Defendant

Out of the Past - KVIFF 60/80 / Obžalovaný / Czechoslovakia 1964

Synopsis

This compelling courtroom drama was one of the first attempts to present an unflinching criticism of the communist regime. The filmmakers skilfully upended the scheme of ideologically driven works advocating just punishment for embezzlers of socialist property. Managing director Kudrna, the key defendant in a high-profile trial, is guilty of financial crime, yet, without this act of misconduct, in a collapsing economy he wouldn't have been able to secure the construction of a new power plant. Perhaps even more daring are the revelations that the deputy minister who pressured Kudrna into taking on the project is a spineless individual and that the judiciary is subordinate to the state apparatus. The Defendant earned directors Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 1964.

Zdena Škapová

Film stills © Source: Národní filmový archiv

About the film

94 min / Black & white, DCP

Director Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos / Screenplay Vladimír Valenta, Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos / Dir. of Photography Rudolf Milič / Music Zdeněk Liška / Sound Miloš Alster / Editor Jaromír Janáček / Art Director Boris Moravec / Producer Ladislav Hanuš / Production Filmové studio Barrandov / Cast Vlado Müller, Zora Jiráková, Martin Štěpánek, Jaroslav Blažek, Pavel Bártl, Milan Jedlička

About the director

Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos. Selected filmography: Kidnapped (Únos, 1952), Three Wishes (Tři přání, 1958), Death Is Called Engelchen (Smrt si říká Engelchen, 1963), The Defendant (Obžalovaný, 1964), The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze, 1965), Adrift (Touha zvaná Anada, 1969).