Démanty noci (Diamonds of the Night). A lyrical filmic treasure —a truly disheartening masterpiece. Although such a tale of disparity didn't exactly start with the film itself. Arnošt Lustig's Children of the Holocaust series, Darkness Casts No Shadow, was the publication which inspired Jan Němec’s cinematic debut. Démanty noci, which redefined storytelling methodologies, was released in 1964. Deemed an “artificial documentary” by a handful of critics, the story depicts hyper-realistic imagery of the brutal struggles shared between two young men who escape a Nazi prison train; one transporting them to their next concentration camp. I had the opportunity to experience Démanty noci on the big screen years back -a happening that will never escape me.
Although these were fictitious reconstructions of Lustig’s personal traumas in concentrations camps, as the audience we are nonetheless haunted by still. What we come to witness seems unimaginable. Distraught and malnourished, our two main characters hold us hostage and garner an attention that the majority of us have never experienced in a film. We are right alongside them —snot, blood, desperate palms and weary pupils.
If you happen to view Nemec’s film before reading Lustig's lucid account (Darkness Casts No Shadow), this choice will not exactly ruin your experience, in fact it only creates a more sympathetic understanding of such a history. A line that stands out from Lustig’s book is as follows: “Is everything lost in the darkness?…there had been no peace in the sky since the plane appeared. The flat car tossed from side to side and the wind lashed them, blowing soot into their eyes…his mouth dropped as he looked up at the plane then at his companion -Will you jump after me? Or do you want to go first?”
SCREENING DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED