CHECHOSLOVAKYA, GOD ISPYTANYI CZECHOSLOVAKIA, THE YEAR OF TRIALS
Among the populations of the “East Bloc” the invasion of 1968 was met with incomprehension and outrage. The leadership cadre of the Soviet Union had already anticipated such a reaction and commissioned the central documentary film studio in Moscow to create an “educational film”. The undertaking was meant to reinforce the horror scenario of a counter-revolutionary conspiracy operating in Czechoslovakia on the one hand and that of the heroic role of the Soviet military on the other. To this ends, original footage shot by army cameramen during the invasion was used in part. This fact makes CZECHOSLOVAKIA, THE YEAR OF TRIALS the exact reverse image of Jan Němec’s ORATORIO FOR PRAGUE.