June 1659. Richard Cromwell flees to France to save his skin. July 1793. Jean-Paul Marat ́s hand is hanging lifelessly from his bath. At the front door stands Ramón Mercader. In his hand he is holding an icepick with which he will soon smash Trotsky ́s skull.
August 1968. In the streets of Prague stand tanks. After the revolution comes a restoration of the old order. And power, same as wealth, is still held by a few chosen ones.
Communism is a new film essay by Karel Vachek, a collage composed of staged passages of utopian and contemporary literature, his own memories as well as tableaux of world events. Apart from Vachek, actors also present texts and become (for the central trio) opponents, partners, an ancient chorus and a modern voiceband reciting amongst the hundreds of books in libraries. And to boot, music plays and jollity is the order of the day. According to Vachek the next revolution will take place on the internet and bureaucrats will only carry out tasks which have been approved by citizens in referendums. And it will be no idyllic stroll. Even the French Revolution was horrific. But nonetheless – thanks to it we became citizens.
