“Cinemarxism” – The Joke Falls Flat

Two recent films illustrate the problem of art and politics under sharply differing social circumstances. The Joke is a Czech film made in 1968 by Jaromil Jires who, in contrast to some of his colleagues, so far has elected to remain in his country. The other, I + 1, dealing with rebellion in America, is the first English picture by Jean-Luc Godard. Apparently delayed by difficulties with the producers, it is being shown in a slightly different version under the title Sympathy for the Devil.

The Joke is sad and bitter, haunting the life of Ludvik Jahn, a student and later a researcher in biology. To his girl friend who had preferred a Political Training Course to the private pleasures of a vacation with him, the young student had sent a jocular postcard proclaiming: “Optimism is the opium of mankind. Healthy spirits stink of stupidity. Heil Trotsky!” This rash defiance of solemnity led to his expulsion from both the Communist Youth group and the university, a proceeding sponsored by his best friend, and then to a year in a punitive army brigade and three years of hard labor in the mines. Ever since, he has lived in a sort of private hell, diffident and aloof.

Current situatio...