Can You Understand?

Overview

The film consists of two parts linked by the principle of contrast. The first (longer) part is a melancholically stylised musical collage based on the American folk song Where Have All the Flowers Gone, the German-language version of which – reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich’s rendition – is accompanied by static shots of a lonely girl in a bleak winter landscape and a cemetery. The second part consists of footage of the bustling street life of a modern city, filmed with a hidden camera and accompanied by lively music. The sad girl from the first part is played by Soňa Valentová, a student at the Academy of Performing Arts. This work is a fourth-year documentary exercise.