The Great Nothing / Velké nic
Czech Republic 2023
Directed by Vít Klusák, Marika Pecháčková, documentary, 103 min, eng subtitles, 16+
Written by Vít Klusák, Marika Pecháčková
How did Czech society react to Covid-19? How did individual Czechs adapt to lockdowns? What were their DIY strategies for carrying on with everyday life and making ends meet vis-à-vis the imposed restrictions and the rising mortality rates? And, more importantly, what lessons have been learnt?
This playful black&white time-lapse observational documentary sets out to respond to the questions above, reflecting on the past three years and trying to come to terms with the Czech dimension of the pandemic. It presents a precious time capsule as if from another world, which offers moments of both pressing urgency and helplessness, pathos and weirdness, elegiac tones and comedy, otherworldly emptiness and surreal beauty. An entertaining look at the pandemic across Czechia, with all its inventiveness, absurdities and clashes of various approaches.