Soľ nad zlato (1983) - Martin Hollý

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When I was a young teenager, my older sister lended me a book called "Contos Populares Portugueses" (Portuguese folk tales).

These portuguese tales were collected in the 19th century, by a portuguese writer that went from village to village, asking the old grandma's to tell stories from ancient oral tradition. The writer was called Teófilo Braga, but some of the oral tales were "transversal" to the whole of Europe.

For my surprise, I found in Czechoslovakian Cinema, an elite treatment of one such tale, called "Salt more than gold", that even today is very impressive for a mature audience.

I made some clips that are very impressive, I would start with the intro with a jousting, with impressive cinematography, be sure to click on the "CC" button for the english subtitles:



The entire folk tale is only one page on a book, where a king had 3 daughters, and he asks them how much do you love me. The daughter that answers "I like you as salt" is banished from the kingdom, later the outcast princess gets a job in the palace kitchen and prepares a meal without salt for her father.

However the Czechoslovakian film directors went well "above and beyond the call of duty", when recreating any folk take, their films are Cinema works of art, beautiful to behold and interesting to analyse and discuss.

For example, in my next clip, you can watch and read the english subtitles, of the court jester criticizing the king, which is historically correct, because the court jester was the only person allowed to criticize directly a king, in most european countries (I confirmed this in wikipedia).



The readers must realize that the old european folk tales where not so childish as Disney made them to appear, and during the cold war the eastern european film studios, created films with no-profit, just trying to make the most perfect rendition of a folk tale, with real castles and palaces. In my two previous clips, there is no childish or comical content.

In the case of this film, there will be a few childish scenes and themes here and there,, however I feel the above clips are interesting for old readers, just by themselves, and not beeing necessary to watch the whole film.

Finally, in this regard, I would like to share the final "Soviet-Style" Folk Tale film, that really does seem a beautiful farewell in 1991, by the Juraz Herz master of Gothic Cinema himself, created during the collapse of the Soviet Union, by funds from Spain, Italy, France, etc. after the Re-unification of the two germanies and the velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia. Here is my trailer for the "Frog King", the last great eastern bloc fairy tale film:



These eastern european film directors did know how to make serious fairy tale films, in real castles and palaces, with master cinematography, and with none of Disney's Comedy or Childishness.



I think the 1978 Panna a netvor / Beauty and the Beast is the only taste I've had of Czech folk tale adaptions. Like this, a far cry from a family movie. The look of real worn down palaces adds so much to immersion.

The Frog King / Zabí král looks beautifully odd. I'll try to find it. Adult fairy tales just became a new genre of interest.



I think the 1978 Panna a netvor / Beauty and the Beast is the only taste I've had of Czech folk tale adaptions. Like this, a far cry from a family movie. The look of real worn down palaces adds so much to immersion.

The Frog King / Zabí král looks beautifully odd. I'll try to find it. Adult fairy tales just became a new genre of interest.
1978's "Panna a netvor" (Beauty and the Beast) is actually the only eastern bloc film I have shown my girlfriend, I will now pass her the keyboard, so she can write her oppinion:

"It was bearable, somewhat better than I expected it to be, nevertheless I keep my mindset that I dislike how the eastern european languages sound."

(keyboard back to me)



I am a guy who adores Cinema of the World, with apreciation of the Realism of hearing the actual language of the characters, even if it means the actors learning the dead Tupi language of the native indians in 16th century Brazil, when France was at war with Portugal, and the Kingdom of France, in posession of Rio de Janeiro, historically authorized cannibalistic warfare against the Kingdom of Portugal, as in the following example of a brazilian director that was also a juri member of the Soviet International Moscow Film Festival:

(jump to time marker 5m36s, on my next video to hear the dead Tupi language, alongside french and portuguese)



But my girlfriend, who speaks 6 languages professionaly (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and German), simply hates watching any film with asian, slavic, arabic or scandinavian languages, which I personally find strange coming from someone who has lived in 3 different countries (France, Spain and Portugal). This explains why a large group of people (worldwide) sustain the Hollywood remakes of foreign films business and doctrine, as in the case of the 2008 swedish romantic horror "Let the Right One In", where I sadly watched a portuguese film reviewer writing "Finally an american remake of the swedish film in a civilized (english) language", which caught me off guard and left me feeling sadness.



The reason I chose Juraz Herz's "Panna a netvor" to show my girlfriend, was because I was trying to "give my best shot", by choosing the very best, but like the masses, she preferes Hollywood "movies" just to pass the time, she respects my interest in the Art, Technique and History behind films, but she just wants romantic comedies and the like...

In my 2013 review of "Panna a netvor", I added information, curiosities and media, along the years, such as this official music video, that I discovered in 2015, with the original composer Petr Hapka, at the piano, by then very old...






I am a guy who adores Cinema of the World, with apreciation of the Realism of hearing the actual language of the characters, even if it means the actors learning the dead Tupi language of the native indians in 16th century Brazil, when France was at war with Portugal, and the Kingdom of France, in posession of Rio de Janeiro, historically authorized cannibalistic warfare against the Kingdom of Portugal, as in the following example of a brazilian director that was also a juri member of the Soviet International Moscow Film Festival:

(jump to time marker 5m36s, on my next video to hear the dead Tupi language, alongside french and portuguese)
Very interesting. Another chunk of history that I knew nothing of. I've added How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman to my watchlist.

This explains why a large group of people (worldwide) sustain the Hollywood remakes of foreign films business and doctrine, as in the case of the 2008 swedish romantic horror "Let the Right One In", where I sadly watched a portuguese film reviewer writing "Finally an american remake of the swedish film in a civilized (english) language", which caught me off guard and left me feeling sadness.
Art unfortunately will always have a lot of gatekeepers (people that think something must have certain qualifications in order to be valid). I typically just ignore distastefully dismissive reviews like the 'Let the Right One In' one you refer to. As long as they're not threatening to suppress it, I won't let other peoples' opinions hinder my own enjoyment. And I like hearing all languages. It just depends on who's speaking them.

The reason I chose Juraz Herz's "Panna a netvor" to show my girlfriend, was because I was trying to "give my best shot", by choosing the very best, but like the masses, she preferes Hollywood "movies" just to pass the time, she respects my interest in the Art, Technique and History behind films, but she just wants romantic comedies and the like...
For people who are used to Hollywood movies, I think less accessible art movies are a big hill to get over, and maybe it takes much more than one film to develop a taste for them. It sure did for me. I think many people are conditioned by pop culture to be less analytical and open minded about art too, and see it as just a fundamental way to entertain or tell a practical story. I enjoy a lot of dumb Hollywood movies as well though, I suppose for the same reason many do.

In my 2013 review of "Panna a netvor", I added information, curiosities and media, along the years, such as this official music video, that I discovered in 2015, with the original composer Petr Hapka, at the piano, by then very old...
I also wrote a review of it a while back here. Despite me being a bit of a smart*ss in my review, I did love it and think it was gorgeous. Thinking about it now made me add a few more Juraj Herz movies to my watchlist. The Frog King will be soon.



re93animator, you have a great review thread there! I spotted some soviet bloc films, that were on my watch list, but only now I found subtitles. Good job on the animated gifs!

I look forward to read your reaction to some rare films, I've watched.