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User Reviews for: The Cremator

JC230
9/10  3 months ago
So ahead of and yet deeply of its time. Herz was wildly ambitious here with his direction- the first person views, the way scenes would ebb and melt into each other from one conversation to the next, as if a dream. It really captures the slipping and deluded consciousness of the lead. Hrušínský is captivating and hypnotic as Karel. A seemingly ordinary family man who takes his readings to make him wise and takes others’ philosophies to give him purpose, you can tell from the jump there is a hollowness and convenience to his kindness and love. After all, he’s cheating on his wife with a prostitute. His life is not something he wants in of itself but because society tells him it is what he ought to want, and he takes simple satisfaction when that is achieved. So it is only natural that when society shifts, from the creeping Nazis on the horizon, so does he. Under that smile and affable veneer is a heartlessness disguised as spirituality, appropriated from and corrupting Buddhism. He repeats whatever is last told to him, eager for approval and encouragement, bending to what appears to be the new societal hive mind.

Hrušínský plays it perfectly, with a chilling performance that holds the whole film together. But I was also struck by Stehnova as his wife. So rarely speaking, she conveys with just looks the growing dread and fear as she sees her husband slipping, while still desperate to believe the best in him. The Cremator is a harrowing, at times darkly comedic satire made with exceptional artistry and incisive and clear vision from Herz. A Holocaust survivor, the combination of his skill and experiences creates a one of a kind film that is all too relevant today. All around us are people not only able but eager to fall to fascism, to an ideology that calls petty cruelty justice and cleansing. It’s all too easy to be one of them if you’re not careful.
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