This film focuses on a band which made history against its will. It is an artistic documentary which covers the more than thirty years of the band’s existence. But beyond recounting history, the film investigates the conflicts suffered by a freely creative spirit under a totalitarian regime. Although the Plastic People never defined themselves as a protest or political group, they were a major symbol of resistance to Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime during the 1970s and 1980s. The imprisonment of the ‘Plastics’ (as they were called) caused worldwide public condemnation and made a contribution to the birth of the Charta 77. Afterward, a ‘third culture’ uninfluenced by the regime grew up around the band. Music stars such as Lou Reed had much praise for the Plastic People, whose music can be heard in the film.

Cast / Jiří Kabeš , Otakar Motejl , Josef Janíček , Gary Lucas , Lou Reed , Martin Bezouška , Milan Hlavsa , Vratislav Brabenec , Václav Havel , Dana Němcová    Writer / Jana Chytilová    DoP / Miroslav Vránek    Editor / Jiří Brožek    Sound / Zdeněk Vekrbauer    Music / The Plastic People of the Universe

Release date / 28 February 2001