DIVOKE VCELY (WILD BEES)

Czech Republic, 2001, 94 minutes, Colour
Directed by Bohdan Slama

Wild Bees is a rather grim, even glum, slice of Czech life at the end of the 20th century. The writer-director has focused on the inhabitants of a northern Moravian village, a long way from Prague. The villagers have no tradition except 40 years of communism which has left them with virtually nothing. They are remote from the city, feeling themselves separated. All they have is their work (which they are very casual about), their relationships (which are also casual) and their drinking.

The film focuses on one family, the father, a widower, who in the opening speaks about horizontal human experiences and vertical experiences which are open to possibility. However, later his mother calls him an idiot. His simple son helps at home and at work and is attracted to the daughter of a woman who is the local prostitute. The other son has gone to Prague to study engineering, is referred to with contempt by many of the villagers as 'the graduate'. He is also the father of a child of the young woman who operates a store but who has married another man who is a compulsive gambler on slot machines. The grandmother is a strong, bossy and censorious type, unwilling to be associated with the daughter of the prostitute because of moral grounds. She dominates her son and her grandsons.

The daughter of the prostitute also helps in the store and is going out with a young man who dresses like Michael Jackson and imitates him and is to do a dance at the annual Firemen's Ball. Her younger brother follows him around, imitating him.
The film seems despairing in its portrayal of a community where one might ask, "Is that all there is?" At the end, the two brothers leave the village - for what? They see the young woman on a motorbike with the Michael Jackson imitator. The two women then appear at the store and make a comment that the party, the ball, seems a celebration of sadness. However, how sad are the people? The film is more relevant for countries who experienced in Eastern Europe the dominance of the Soviet Union and are critical of its heritage.

1. The grim and glum impact of the film? The village, the villagers, their not being connected with the rest of the country? The consequences of their isolation? The consequences of communist rule? Any hope for the future?

2. The visualising of the village, its drabness, the countryside, the shacks and houses, the ramshackle store, the roads? The abandoned church? The musical score, the songs, the atmosphere of the area?

3. The title and its reference to the characters and their life?

4. The opening with the father's comment to Kaya about the horizontal dimensions and the vertical dimensions? His continued reference to spirituality and nobody listening to him? His own seeming lack of spirituality in his own behaviour, his relationship with his mother, his sons, his alienation from his graduate son, with the prostitute? His sons leaving him at the end? Kaya and his simplicity, his having to work, slowness in getting jobs done, collecting bottles, taking them to the women? His attraction towards Boschka, his going to the dance with her, their sexual encounter? Yet his being influenced by his brother and leaving the town? Petr and his return, his father's disdain, his grandmother's support, his studies in Prague, people referring to him as the graduate (especially when he won the main prize at the raffle)? His relationship with Kaya? Their discussions? Drunk at the party, going off with Jana, the reality of her child as his, her not admitting it, "What's the difference"? His driving away with his brother?

5. Boschka, her age, experience, relationship with her mother, with her younger brother, working in the store? Casual? Yet seeming content? The outings with Ladya? Moving away from him, going to the dance with Kaya, their night together? Yet on the bike with Ladya the next day? Her mother, her clients, being looked down on in the town? Her urging her daughter to marry Ladya because he had a house?

6. Ladya, the Michael Jackson outfit, listening to the music, imitating the dance and Jackson's style? Boschka's brother and his following him round, dancing with him? The motorbike? The relationship, Boschka leaving him, his inability to do the dance? The tear in his eye? Yet on the motorbike with Boschka the next day?

7. The women and their being out in the fields, collecting the wood, drinking? Their place in the town?

8. Jana, the shop, the baby, her husband and his gambling at the slot machine (when he can get it when the grandmother is not playing)? The alienation, Jana and her relationship with Petr, spending the night with him, the baby? No future?

9. A slice of Czech life, the criticisms of government non-intervention? The villagers and their not realising the emptiness of their lives - celebrations of sadness? Any hope?