Krajinka, aka “Landscape,” consists of 10 separate vignettes, or short stories, grafted together chronologically. The time span stretches from pre-WWII Czechoslovakia to the latter half of the 20th century. Although a couple of characters reappear in episodes, the stories are mainly independent of each other.
What unites the stories is a rural spirit of life that is ribald, compassionate, cruel, and above all resilient. The “landscape” shrugs off Fascists (both Hungarian and German), and subsequent Communists. Still, there is a feeling that we are witnessing the end of an era, the gradual demise of a way of life that will never come again. The movie is a eulogy for this dying culture.
