Ladislav Helge

Overview

Social issues presented to him, as a film director, always more than an artistic concept, politics meant more to him than poetics. Right after his feature debut School of Fathers (Škola otců, 1957) he established himself at the forefront of the reform efforts of cinematography after the “thaw” of 1956, soon, however, he was hit by the payoff of the regime in the form of censorship restrictions Great Solitude (Velká samota, 1959). He fell into a creative uncertainty and found his filmmaker’s image again only 10 years later, in a merciless analysis of a mentality of functionaries Shame (Stud, 1967). His active civilian participation in the renewal rejuvenation process in 1968 definitely took him out of cinematography. After the Soviet occupation he was fired from Barrandov, making his living as an office clerk and returned to his profession only within the framework of the programs of Laterna Magika theatre in the eighties.