The Hand

Unreal. That a puppet can't show emotion? Come on. All it takes is a master to create it. Actually, the master. For me, the most impressive and economical metaphor of any totalitarianism, of all its horrors and machinations. This should be watched in history class when the 1950s are studied. But after all, Trnka's Hand is typical of many other time periods and regimes in the history of this planet. (01/25/2004)

In this film, Jiří Trnka brilliantly plays with the animated scenes and the entry of a person, or rather a hand, into this scene. The film has a story, which is fundamental, but primarily it's a fantastic play with form, demonstrating how something superior, almost supernatural, enters the realm of animated film. The hand is simply a god, unfortunately. (02/16/2015)