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| Images courtesy of Deaf Crocodile |
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a famous legend telling the tale of a town besieged by rats. They eventually hire a rat catcher with an unorthodox way of dealing with the vermin; he plays a song on his pipe and the rats follow him out of town skittering to his merry tune. Unfortunately, the town mayor doesn't pay the piper what he is owned, and the piper plays his magical tune for the local children, who, dancing wildly, follow him out of the city as well, never to be seen again. Most adaptations use these main story beats as a morality play, with the Pied Piper as a chaotic neutral character who is helpful as long as he is compensated fairly. In Jiří Barta's 1986 version Krysar AKA The Pied Piper, everything is much darker in tone, veering closer to horror than fairytale.
Hamelin is a town full of people obsessed with money and acquiring wealth, and the daily routine involves city-folk bickering with each other over pennies, haggling their lives away to save a few coins. They are introduced yelling gibberish at each other, and it quickly becomes clear that the dialogue they speak is made-up, a mish-mash of guttural sounds and vowels (and it caused your dear reviewer to check that she had, in fact, turned on the subtitles, and she was chagrined to discover it wasn't a real language). Fortunately, the characters and environment are physically and visually expressive, and it's easy to discern the tone and purpose of the conversations. For example, when the characters are bartering with each other, coins spill out of their mouths in various amounts to indicate what prices they are proposing. The entire film is filled with clever ideas like this, and it adds a layer of whimsy to the aesthetic.
The Pied Piper is a stop-motion animated film that eschews the clay look for something more organic and ornate. The backgrounds and the characters look like they have all been carved out of wood, and their designs are full of hard angles and embellished details. There are other texture details like smooth leather and fluffy fur to break up the monotony of the wood grain, but the color grading of the film leans heavily towards browns and yellows, giving it an aged look. Interspersed with the wooden joints are sharp metal connecting pieces that lend a slight industrial flair. Towards the end of the film, there is a brief sequence where it switches to a painted style that is a call-back to the fantasy origins of the story.
In the original tale, the rats were an antagonist of sorts, and since the legend originated in the Middle Ages, one could theorize that they represented Black Plague fears. In Barta's adaptation, the rats serve as metaphors and foreshadowing. As the rich city council lives it up with their hoarded wealth, eating and drinking into the night, the rats are simultaneously shown doing the same thing, but wallowing in filth and gorging themselves until they lie unconscious on the floor. The rats and the wealthy are the same, living hedonistically behind closed doors. The Rat Catcher is a brooding figure hiding behind his flowing cloak and a menacing mask. When he is wronged, he chooses violence, and his punishment for the populace is terrible and horrific. In a way, it subverts the original story; instead of admonishing the children for the sins of their parents, he goes right for the source. The last moments are hopeful, however, implying that the children can learn from the past if raised in the right environment.
Extras: The commentary featuring Irena Kovarova and Peter Hames is illuminating, and Kovarova, in particular adds much-needed context that helps the viewer understand the symbolism in the film. Her included essay is also a fantastic read and talks in depth about the background of the film and the era in which it was made.
Blu-Ray Extras:
New restoration of THE PIED PIPER by Craig Rogers of Deaf Crocodile.
New restoration of rare short film: Jiří Barta’s “The Vanished World Of Gloves” (Zaniklý svět rukavic), a marvelous and eccentric tour through cinema history told through animated gloves (1982, 16 min.)
“Chronicle Of The Pied Piper” (Kronika Krysaře), a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Barta’s masterpiece (1985, 13 min., dir. Miroslava Humplíková) – in Czech with English subtitles.
New video interview with director Jiří Barta, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile.
New Audio commentary by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company and film critic & historian Peter Hames.
Booklet essay by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova.
New artwork by Brian Level.
Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.
--Michelle Kisner