KAWASAKI’S ROSE OPENS A GENERIC SKELETON IN THE POST-COMMUNIST CZECH CLOSET
During the Communist era in Czechoslovakia, the authorities often sought to reeducate prominent dissidents after their arrest, and those who resisted were sometimes tortured or even exiled. Others were bullied into secretly compromising their integrity. Embarrassing secrets, thus, might inevitably emerge after the end of Communist rule. That’s the point of the convoluted Czech film Kawasaki’s Rose (Kawasakiho ruze), directed by Jan Hrebejk. When the film begins, psychiatrist Pavel Josek (played by Martin Huba) is anticipating an award for being one of the signers of the Charter 77 Declaration. His daughter Lucie (played by Lenka Vlasáková) has recently been released from an 18-month hospitalization for a rare cancer that is now cured. But his son-in-law Ludek (played by Milan Mikulcík), while filming a documentary to expose Josek’s Communist-era perfidy, has fallen in love with his documentary interviewer Bára (played by Anna Simonová) during his spouse’s absence from home. Ludek then behaves so badly that filmviewers will immediately identify him as the villain, not realizing that the truth will ultimately identify Lucie’s sculptor birthfather in Sweden, Borek (played by Antonin Kratochvil), and Josek’s role in promoting his exile. Although not explicitly identified as a gay relationship, Borek has befriended brushstroke artist named Kawasaki, who lost his family when a terrorist released sarin in a Tokyo subway during 1995. Kawasaki has stopped painting as a result, but is inspired by the reunion of Borek with Lucie and his former wife Jana (played by Daniela Kólarová) to paint a rose as a gift for them. Although the plot summary herein may seem intriguing, the film itself requires patience to view. Some filmviewers at a Beverly Hills screening walked out early, possibly due to Ludek’s rude conduct, then inexplicable and even unnecessary in this reviewer’s opinion. The film, in other words, could have been edited to provide much greater suspense. MH