Bohemia Docta

In Bohemia docta, his third film in a series called Malý kapitalista (The Little Capitalist), Karel Vachek continues to explore the interactions between history, philosophy and politics. His characteristic overlapping of interviews, themes and dialogue soon moves from the title‘s juxtaposition of Comenius and Dante to Marx, Alfons Mucha‘s „Slav Epic“ and the Plastic People of the Universe. His multilevel discussion, interspersed with a taxonomy of mushrooms and castles, ranges from discussions of Roma culture and racism to the writer and artist Josef Váchal, the composer Lukeš, the reopening of the Slavia restaur-ant, the complex workings of the former security police and comparisons between Dubcek and Oldrich Nový, to the poster of Václav Klaus in place of the Stalin monument. Vachek is a true original and his on-screen debates, if you choose to engage with them, can be genuinely instructive. (Peter Hames)