The Defendant [screening]

The U.S. premiere of the digitally restored version of Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos’s gripping courtroom drama about guilt, responsibility, and the workings of power in socialist Czechoslovakia. The film won the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1964.

The Defendant (Obžalovaný) / dir. Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos / 1964 / drama / Czechoslovakia / Czech with English subtitles / 93 min.

Directors: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos
Featuring: Vlado Müller, Zora Jiráková, Martin Štěpánek, Jaroslav Blažek, Miroslav Macháček, Jiří Menzel

Josef Kudrna, the director overseeing the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, stands trial alongside two of his subordinates for the misappropriation of state property. While his co-defendants confess, Kudrna insists that he is innocent: he did not profit from the scheme and knew nothing of their fraud. As the testimony unfolds, however, the court confronts him with the part played by pressure from above, the relentless drive to fulfill the production plan, and his own willingness to sign documents without examining them closely.

Based on Lenka Hašková’s novel, this intimate courtroom drama transforms a corruption case into a searching examination of personal and institutional responsibility. Kadár and Klos expose the failures of the planned economy, the misuse of the law, and the close ties between political power and the justice system. The film’s austere style, controlled performances, and Zdeněk Liška’s score, which incorporates the rhythm of typewriters, give it a striking sense of authenticity. Politically unwelcome, the film was withdrawn from distribution in 1971 and did not return to Czechoslovak cinemas until 1988.

The Defendant won the Crystal Globe in 1964, becoming the first Czechoslovak film to receive the Karlovy Vary festival’s top prize. One year later, Kadár and Klos made The Shop on Main Street, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This year, The Defendant returned to Karlovy Vary as part of the 60th KVIFF’s anniversary retrospective of landmark films from the festival’s history.

Czech Center New York now presents the U.S. premiere of the film’s digitally restored 2022 version. The screening will be introduced by Tereza Porybná, director of Czech Center New York.