Synopsis
NO ONE WILL SUFFER.
In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.
In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.
Der Leichenverbrenner, L'incinérateur de cadavres, De Lijkverbrander, 화장터 인부, 크리메이터, Perfeksjonisten, Крематор, Lò Thiêu, L’Incinérateur de cadavres, L'uomo che bruciava i cadaveri, El incinerador de cadáveres, A hullaégető, The Cremator - Der Leichenverbrenner, O Cremador, Човекът от крематориума, 焚尸人, Palacz zwłok, Spalovač mrtvol, Сжигатель трупов, Incineratorul, El incinerador, Το κρεματόριο, Kremuotojas, Спалювач мерців, 焚屍人, 火葬人
The Cremator is a two-layered experience of immense depth, let alone one of the counted films in history that can be called "ahead of its time".
With a staggering cinematography, the most memorable male character in the Czech New Wave, a neo-noir ambience, an hypnotic directing, a terrifying score, and probably a leading performance that deserves to be held as one of the best in cinema history, The Cremator is an unapologetic downward spiral to delusional madness of a man that strongly believes in the purifying power of cremation and the metaphysical advantages provided by premature death in order to stop human suffering. The presence of this intellectual personage is so imposing, that the rest of the characters around him…
A concentration camp survivor reworks the horrifying wide-angle, POV subjectivity of something like Peeping Tom to fit the snarling, darkly comic, absurdly disturbing headspace of a compulsive, obsessive cremator who views his craft as an art, gradually morphs into a tool for/the arm of the genocidal Nazi machine, and may or may not think he's the next Buddha due to his occupation of "liberating" souls from their bodies. An unbearable, close-proximity depiction of how evil can delude itself into thinking it’s actually a work of purity and spiritualism with very few psychological and ideological tweaks.
If you’re a handsy repressed smug conformist with no original thoughts yet love to hear yourself talk, you’re probably a secret fascist just waiting to be given permission by an authority figure to murder. That’s just facts. You romanticize and aggrandize yourself, but like all romantics you’re just a blockhead tool waiting... longing... to be told you're important.
Director Juraj Herz was a survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp as a child and you can see how that personal experience gave him bold proprietary permission to mock and explore this horrifying subject to such great effect.
The tying of transcendental buddhism to our protagonist’s increasingly manipulated and ideologically thirsty mind is sweet perfection. Magical thinking is most often the out for…
This is a real horror film, absurdly haunting with a stunning technical beauty, this film is one of the finest examples of Czechoslovak cinema, set at the height of one of the darkest eras in European history, showing the devastating impact of Nazism and the corrosion of the individual in the face of totalitarian systems.
The film was released in 1969, shortly after the Prague Spring and the subsequent invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces. This context is crucial to understanding the depth of Herz’s political critique, which, under the guise of a narrative about Nazism, was in fact commenting on totalitarianism in all its forms. Czechoslovakia had experienced a brief political and cultural opening under the reformist government of…
Probably the best movie I've ever seen made by someone other than Rainer Werner Fassbinder about how little effort it takes to push the average man from their socialized notions of patriarchal authority and even mild economic stability into the realm of outright fascism. And where Fassbinder approaches this subject via studio-era melodrama, Herz does it via Eastern European psychological thriller, so that the film seems to eat itself as an already unbalanced man fully slides off his axis.
The definitive answer to the question, "What if you took David Lynch, Carnival of Souls and Angst and put them in the dreamlike, strange universe of Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad?" And it would be a psychological horror film about a well-meaning man who descends into complete madness when a Nazi convinced him he has German blood.
This is one of those films that cannot be adequately described in words. It's a magnificent and stunning piece of visual storytelling blended with a brilliant script made up of mostly monologues that may appear merely odd, but when combined with the rather experimental camerawork and sound mixing, the nightmarish cinematography that intensifies the psychological aspect of the movie and attacks all…
The more I think about it, the more I think this is a very twisted horror-comedy masterpiece of the darkest kind.
Shot like a hazy dream, it follows Rudolf Hrusinsky as the titular crematorium worker as he gives what is essentially a movie long monologue about his own twisted spirituality, actions, and slowly building madness/mania. Despite the fact that he dominates the film utterly, there's still somehow space for a surprisingly large cast of supporting characters who are much more fleshed out than seems possible. Notable are Mr. Strauss and his awkward wife, Mr. Dvorak the nervous smoker, the family of the title character, and Mr. Reinke, the Devil-as-Nazi-recruiter who matter-of-factly lures Mr. Kopfrkingl (the mad protagonist) into megalomania and…
“I’ll save them all. The whole world”
Holocaust survivor Juraj Herz’s fiercely creepy The Cremator is a disorienting character study closely following a Czech cremator’s seduction into Nazism; carefully linking his initially unassuming behaviours to his eventual delirium and imposing nature as he’s gripped by delusion and despotism. Stanislav Milota’s incredible cinematography and Jaromír Janácek’s dizzying editing are so forceful in getting inside the mind of Kopfrkingl, creatively cutting between scenes in reverse shots to make dialogue flow seamlessly and create a stream of consciousness that matches his rambling; as well as getting uncomfortably close to its actors or using POV shots to keep him feeling sharply authoritative throughout his dark spiral. Emphasised particularly thanks to Rudolf Hrusínsky’s phenomenal performance, the film is genuinely chilling in how natural it’s development seems to feel; capturing this horrifying transformation in such a precisely intricate, believable way that makes it so eminently disturbing.
I can't believe I have dragged my heels in watching this film after all the drum banging of how excellent it is and spoiler IT IS!!!
This is simply a uniquely stylized film that takes place in Czechoslovakia 1939 following a cremator named Karel(Roman) Kopfrkingl who is amazingly played by Rudolf Hrušínský as we follow him around this Czech town constantly espousing his thoughts and believes that reminds me in a way like Patrick Bateman but with lower intelligence but equally sinister.
I can't get over on how many levels this material works as a very dark comedy and in learning what Juraj Herz the director went through during this time for him to make such a detachment from the…
On the epidemic of evil, the omnipotence of death and the repression of conscience. People rationalize anything under the spell of influence and promises of power—the brutish strength of delusion, practicing paradoxical philosophies that warp their perceptions of morality, leaving them as hollow husks of humans bound only to conformity—but they will never be able to rid themselves of the dark specter that haunts and walks behind them for all eternity. Hits different when it’s all around you.
While everyone else was making movies in 1969, Czechoslovakia was making movies in 2069. Thank god they separated, together they were clearly too powerful and had to be stopped.