The Pied Piper

Barta's cruel Gothic version of the classic medieval legend once again demonstrates the continuing excellence of Czech animation. Hamelin is a grey Caligariesque mountain of sloping hovels and palaces, its burghers obscene figures whose sole motivation is the acquisition of filthy lucre; the Piper, cheated by the corrupt council after clearing the city of rats, is a gaunt incarnation of Death whose flute conjures idyllic visions of verdant landscapes totally at odds with Hamelin's stony monotones. An impressive film, notable not only for its richly imaginative juxtapositions of visual textures, but for its resolutely grotesque account of a society's lemming-like race towards self-annihilation.