Theodora Zarbis
The communist governemnt in Czechoslovakia would not distribute Trnka’s short film because it was seen to be criticizing the authoritarianism that people were subjected to and could potentially anger some viewers and maybe inspire some organized form of resistance. The hand that the main character cannot escape the control of, was to me a suffocating portrayal of having no right to self determinism and essentaially being some sort of hostage with no free will. Personally I was deeply disturbed by this tragic persecution of this one small character attempting to live a free life and have the ability to say no and have his own space and the right to enforce some boundaries around his existence. To watch this continuous violation was soul crushing as it leads to the inevitible demise of a person’s individuality until death. The hand is relentless and all I could wish for was the escape of the main character yet the situation is clearly shown to be a hopeless one with no intervention or resolution. It shows this person is doomed. I’m surprised how very bothered I was by this film and it’s power to affect me like that. It’s hard to watch oppression I guess, even if it’s happening to a puppet.
