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Encyclopedia
The Pied Piper is a 1986 Czechoslovak animated film directed by Jiří Barta
. Its original Czech title is Krysař, which means "The rat catcher". The story is an adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a fairy tale originated in medieval Germany. The film was one of Czechoslovakia's most ambitious animation projects of the 1980s, notable for its unusual dark art direction, innovative animation techniques and use of a fictitious language. The art design was heavily inspired by German Expressionism
and medieval art. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard
section the 1986 Cannes Film Festival
.
The film starts with the image of a mechanism beginning to work - as the gears move (behind the scenes), the sun slowly rises up over a town and a new day begins. The town, Hamelin, is shown to be one which is full of corrupted, petty people, where everything is wasted and money and social rank are the first priority. The waste leads to a gigantic rat infestation at night. As the town leaders meet to decide on the best course of action, a stranger appears in the doorway - a hooded piper who with the sound of his playing can entice rats to run over a cliff to their deaths. The town leaders are very happy and offer him 1000 gold coins as payment if he would get rid of all of the town's rats. The piper accepts, and begins walking through the city, leading all of the rats behind him. At the same time, a jewellery seller who was among the elite group of leaders walks into a woman's home and asks her to marry him. The woman (who is so far the only character who doesn't look grotesque, implying innocence) refuses. The jeweller persists, but before he can do anything the piper passes by her house and the jewellery seller is forced to jump out of the window at the sound of the music. After all of the rats jump into a lake, the piper comes back into town, on the way once again stopping the jeweller's advances on the woman. The piper and the woman sit on the bench together as he plays a beautiful melody that is accompanied by paint-on-wood animation (a complete change of style from the rest of the film).
Finally, the piper goes to collect his promised payment. The town leaders (who are in the middle of gorging themselves on food and wine) give him only a black button. The piper leaves angrily. Meanwhile, the jeweller is seen drinking and telling his sad tale of rejection to his friends, who decide to do something about it. That night, they break into the woman's house as she is praying, rape and kill her (this is implied rather than shown). The piper comes, but this time he is too late - all that he can do is close the eyes of her horrified face.
Now the piper climbs up the highest tower in the town, to the top floor where the machinery for the sun that we saw in the introduction is located. At the very top is the god Saturn
, holding an hourglass
. The piper and Saturn have a silent conversation, and a decision is made. All of the sand in Saturn's hourglass runs out, and the gears that make the sun rise stop working. As the first chime of morning strikes, the sun does not rise; instead, the piper walks out and plays his pipe. As the citizens hear him, they turn into rats and follow the sound, eventually jumping off the tower just like the rats did previously.
The only person left is an old fisherman (who was seen watching the city from far off, earlier in the film) who comes to watch. When he gets close to the piper, however, the piper ceases to exist - his cloak, now empty of a person inside it, flies away with the wind. The fisherman walks into the empty city and finds a baby (who is still uncorrupted) in one of the houses. He takes the baby away with him.
's aim was to make an adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin which captured the German spirit, and which had to be suitable for animation. The film's narrative therefore took traits from several alterations of the myth, but mainly stayed true to the version presented in the novel Krysař by Viktor Dyk
. Writing the screenplay and doing technical preparations took one year.
The art design was based on German Expressionism
and medieval German art conventions. Barta said: "This element has actually solved certain spatial problems in that part of the mediaeval canon is that the important figures are big, and secondary figures are small. So it has solved the whole problem of space, and justifies an illogicality – a lack of logic – about the world of the film." Barta designed the puppets and sets himself. He started with drawings and then made models to provide three dimensions. The puppets were intentionally designed as to appear mechanical, which would contrast with the use of living rats, to create the impression that the rats were more alive than the humans. The exceptions were the characters Agnes and the fisherman, who were given a softer design to represent a world of purity. The puppets varied in size between one and 60 centimeters. One scene in the film features two-dimensional animation in a style radically different from the rest. This segment was inspired by medieval painting on wood, and in particular the art of Jan van Eyck
.
Filming took one year and after that the sound was added in post-production. The language spoken in the film is fictitious and not supposed to be literally understood by anybody. According to Barta, the language was "somewhat based on German, but the main emphasis was on the rhythm and the onomatopoeic quality of the language." Voice acting was provided by Oldřich Kaiser, Jiří Lábus
, Michal Pavlíček
and Vilém Čok.
section of the 1986 Cannes Film Festival
. Its Czechoslovak premiere was on 1 September the same year.
An NTSC
R1 DVD of Jiří Barta's films called "Jiri Barta: Labyrinth of Darkness" was released by Kino Video on 12 September 2006. The DVD contains most of Barta's filmography (this film and: A Ballad About Green Wood, The Club of the Laid Off, The Design, Disc Jockey, The Last Theft, Riddles for a Candy, The Vanished World of Gloves). The other films range from 6 to 24 minutes in length. The DVD features the original Czech soundtracks with English subtitles. Other DVDs featuring the film include a Japanese version of the abovementioned release, as well as a French release from Doriane Films which has only this. A Czech DVD was released on 26 August 2009.
Jirí Barta
Jiří Barta is a Czech stop-motion animation director. His films, many of which used the medium of wood for animation, garnered critical acclaim and won many awards, but after the fall of the communist government in Czechoslovakia he was unable to release anything for about 15 years...
. Its original Czech title is Krysař, which means "The rat catcher". The story is an adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a fairy tale originated in medieval Germany. The film was one of Czechoslovakia's most ambitious animation projects of the 1980s, notable for its unusual dark art direction, innovative animation techniques and use of a fictitious language. The art design was heavily inspired by German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
and medieval art. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section the 1986 Cannes Film Festival
1986 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Sydney Pollack*Alexandre Mnouchkine*Alexandre Trauner*Charles Aznavour*Danièle Thompson*István Szabó*Lino Brocka*Philip French*Sonia Braga*Tonino Delli Colli-Feature film competition:* After Hours by Martin Scorsese...
.
Plot
Finally, the piper goes to collect his promised payment. The town leaders (who are in the middle of gorging themselves on food and wine) give him only a black button. The piper leaves angrily. Meanwhile, the jeweller is seen drinking and telling his sad tale of rejection to his friends, who decide to do something about it. That night, they break into the woman's house as she is praying, rape and kill her (this is implied rather than shown). The piper comes, but this time he is too late - all that he can do is close the eyes of her horrified face.
Now the piper climbs up the highest tower in the town, to the top floor where the machinery for the sun that we saw in the introduction is located. At the very top is the god Saturn
Saturn (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest time. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in...
, holding an hourglass
Hourglass
An hourglass measures the passage of a few minutes or an hour of time. It has two connected vertical glass bulbs allowing a regulated trickle of material from the top to the bottom. Once the top bulb is empty, it can be inverted to begin timing again. The name hourglass comes from historically...
. The piper and Saturn have a silent conversation, and a decision is made. All of the sand in Saturn's hourglass runs out, and the gears that make the sun rise stop working. As the first chime of morning strikes, the sun does not rise; instead, the piper walks out and plays his pipe. As the citizens hear him, they turn into rats and follow the sound, eventually jumping off the tower just like the rats did previously.
The only person left is an old fisherman (who was seen watching the city from far off, earlier in the film) who comes to watch. When he gets close to the piper, however, the piper ceases to exist - his cloak, now empty of a person inside it, flies away with the wind. The fisherman walks into the empty city and finds a baby (who is still uncorrupted) in one of the houses. He takes the baby away with him.
Production
The Pied Piper was an unusually ambitious project for the production company Kratky Film, which like other animation studios in Czechoslovakia primarily made television short films for children. Research for the film took six months. Director Jiří BartaJirí Barta
Jiří Barta is a Czech stop-motion animation director. His films, many of which used the medium of wood for animation, garnered critical acclaim and won many awards, but after the fall of the communist government in Czechoslovakia he was unable to release anything for about 15 years...
's aim was to make an adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin which captured the German spirit, and which had to be suitable for animation. The film's narrative therefore took traits from several alterations of the myth, but mainly stayed true to the version presented in the novel Krysař by Viktor Dyk
Viktor Dyk
Viktor Dyk was a well-known Czech poet, prose writer, playwright, politician and political writer....
. Writing the screenplay and doing technical preparations took one year.
The art design was based on German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
and medieval German art conventions. Barta said: "This element has actually solved certain spatial problems in that part of the mediaeval canon is that the important figures are big, and secondary figures are small. So it has solved the whole problem of space, and justifies an illogicality – a lack of logic – about the world of the film." Barta designed the puppets and sets himself. He started with drawings and then made models to provide three dimensions. The puppets were intentionally designed as to appear mechanical, which would contrast with the use of living rats, to create the impression that the rats were more alive than the humans. The exceptions were the characters Agnes and the fisherman, who were given a softer design to represent a world of purity. The puppets varied in size between one and 60 centimeters. One scene in the film features two-dimensional animation in a style radically different from the rest. This segment was inspired by medieval painting on wood, and in particular the art of Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
.
Filming took one year and after that the sound was added in post-production. The language spoken in the film is fictitious and not supposed to be literally understood by anybody. According to Barta, the language was "somewhat based on German, but the main emphasis was on the rhythm and the onomatopoeic quality of the language." Voice acting was provided by Oldřich Kaiser, Jiří Lábus
Jirí Lábus
Jiří Lábus is a Czech actor. In 1973, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague andjoined theatre Studio Ypsilon, where he remains employed to this day. He also appeared several times as guest actor in other theatres .He performed several roles in both television and film...
, Michal Pavlíček
Michal Pavlíček
Michal Pavlíček is Czech guitarist, musical composer, singer and lyricist.- Discography :* Horký dech Jany Koubkové * Black Light...
and Vilém Čok.
Release
The film was screened in the Un Certain RegardUn Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section of the 1986 Cannes Film Festival
1986 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Sydney Pollack*Alexandre Mnouchkine*Alexandre Trauner*Charles Aznavour*Danièle Thompson*István Szabó*Lino Brocka*Philip French*Sonia Braga*Tonino Delli Colli-Feature film competition:* After Hours by Martin Scorsese...
. Its Czechoslovak premiere was on 1 September the same year.
An NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
R1 DVD of Jiří Barta's films called "Jiri Barta: Labyrinth of Darkness" was released by Kino Video on 12 September 2006. The DVD contains most of Barta's filmography (this film and: A Ballad About Green Wood, The Club of the Laid Off, The Design, Disc Jockey, The Last Theft, Riddles for a Candy, The Vanished World of Gloves). The other films range from 6 to 24 minutes in length. The DVD features the original Czech soundtracks with English subtitles. Other DVDs featuring the film include a Japanese version of the abovementioned release, as well as a French release from Doriane Films which has only this. A Czech DVD was released on 26 August 2009.
Awards
- 19861986 in film-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
—Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films: "Golden Mikeldi" Award. - 1986—New Castle: main prize of the festival.
- 1986—Royan: main prize in category + prize for best music.
- 1986—Chicago: Golden Plaque for best animated film.
- 1986—Espinho: Best Animated Film.
- 1986—San Sebastian: FIPRESCI Special Mention + CIGA Special Mention.
- 19871987 in film-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
—Madrid: Prize for animation. - 1987—São Paulo: Best Directing, Best Photography.
- 19881988 in film-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
—Salerno: The main prize in the category. - 19891989 in film-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
—Alencon: "Alencon Lace".
External links
- Darkstrider.net - video clips from The Pied Piper and trailer for The Golem
- Trailer for The Pied Piper from Films de Paradoxe