Episode 433: The Joke (1969)

Czechtember 2019 continues with a look at Jaromil Jires’s The Joke. Shot in 1968 and released in 1969, the film was adapted by Jires and Milan Kundera, the author of the book of the same name. It tells the tale of Ludvik who was ousted from the Communist party after the youthful indiscretion of making a joke. He spends the rest of his life feeling the effects of this including hatching a plan for revenge on the university student who ousted him that takes 15 years to fulfill.