MUBI

Démanty noci 1964 aka Diamonds in the Night
Jan Nemec directed this terrifying, brief (63 Minutes), immersion into the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe based on a story by Arnost Lustig, himself a survivor of Nazi camps for Jews. In its most powerful moments, the film begins with a very fluid scene of two young men running through a forest with the sound of rifle fire in the distance. The scene reminds one of The Blair Witch Project with its implication of unspeakable yet implied horror without any direct depiction. As the film progresses, bits of memory of former times and the circumstances of the escape are interspersed with the grueling conditions the boys endure on the run with repetitious scenes that depicts an apartment on an upper floor, accessed by stair and lift, that the younger of the two, in the delirium of deprivation, repeatedly attempts to gain, but never getting past the door at the top of the stair. It is a deft psychological device to manifest a condition of frustration and helplessness. This film delivers a impressive emotional involvement in history’s most horrific episode.

Surreal delirium image used effictively in creating a sense of past.

There is one scene in particular I’d love to write about: The two boys running away from the old men, and the celebratory feast which follows.

This scene, in it’s 10 minute running time (more or less), captures the essence of how governments far and wide operate. The old, narcissistic heads that run wherever they may inhabit, congratulate themselves for a victory luckily achieved. They did not capture the boys due to their hunting prowess or their capabilities as planners; They simply won because the boy slipped. Governments all over the globe credit themselves for ill achieved victories. They “win” due to the ignorance and naivety of the people, and they, in turn, remain ignorant and naive to how they actually won.

Then comes the celebratory, almost masturbatory, feast immediately following the capture. The sounds of the men eating is, at times, not what’s shown on screen. The disgusting sound of chewing takes over, their faces fawning over one another and their much deserved victory. In true allegorical fashion, this alludes to their disconnection to what really happens around them. Truly selfish and egotistical people who’ve lost sight with the realities of this world.

A simple scene and so full of context. It may be my contempt for governments and those who run them speaking, but who cares? This scene speaks volumes while showing very little.