Whilst searching round for Czech Sci-Fi films to view I was surprised to find one which instead of space or time travel was a take on the Post-Apocalypse genre,which led to me getting ready to enter the Hotel Ozone.The plot:20 years after a nuclear war wipes most of humanity out,a group of women, (all born after the bombing)are led by the "old women",whose military background helps the women to survive in the wilderness.Fearing that all the men are dying,the women go in search of males so that the human race can continue.During their search the women stumble upon the broken down Hotel Ozone,which is being run by an old man.Inviting them in,the old man soon discovers an apocalyptic generation gap.View on the film:Landing when the "optimism" of the Soviet's winning the "Space Race" had crumbled,the screenplay by Pavel Jurácek, (who also directed the superb Case for a Rookie Hangman,and sadly died at just 53) takes a merciless allegorical approach to the Sci-Fi wasteland.Keeping just two people born before the apocalypse alive, Jurácek tears the Soviet belief over the destruction of history for a bright future into ruins and dried blood.Along with displaying the Soviet destruction of the past, Jurácek also keeps the post-apocalypse canvas burning hot,as the snipped,rustic dialogue cast the group in a Film Noir shadow,where all signs of humanity have rot away.Making his feature film debut,director Jan Schmidt brilliantly links the earthiness of the Czech New Wave (CNW),with the ultra-stylised shine of Film Noir.Basking in an unrelenting sun, Schmidt and cinematographer Jirí Macák smash the world into mud,sweat and blood,as Schmidt stilted camera grabs the soulless grime that the women are caked in with a CNW unflinching stare.Stepping away from the burnt up outdoor locations, Schmidt seeps a brittle Film Noir atmosphere into the hotel,where the delicate lights reveals the beauties that the women could have been,and also uncovers the dead to the world souls that they have become,in the Hotel Ozone.

This 1966 Czech film is a gritty post apocalyptic cautionary tale. A senior lady guides a troupe of young women through a desolate and presumably radioactive future wasteland- a quest to find other people.The women are very easy on the eye, in a natural, 'cowgirl' or farmers daughter kind of way. They also harbor a darkness that unfolds as the film progresses. The black and white cinematography perfectly conveys the horror and sensibility of a land ravaged years ago by nuclear war.This film is direct, without symbolism. The women eventually meet up with an old man who......The film offers clues about humanities future emotional tone, our end maybe, in a world bereft of the humanizing elements of stability and civilization.This is a must see film for any serious aficionado of science fiction, or any other genre, for that matter.Animal lovers beware: scenes of actual animal cruelty appear in this film. Remember, this was made in 1966 in a non western nation, so standards were different.

This movie is a stunner, to be sure, and easily decades ahead of its time; the atmosphere of degradation and decay, and just plain desolation, is far beyond anything accomplished in any other film, and I include the immortal MAD MAX 2.However, I have to, HAVE TO, ask the question of whether this film works, as do most Central/Eastern European films, on more than one level, and whether there is inner commentary contained in the film.Watching it, I was struck by the subtext of how the old world has ended, and a new world begun, with new and young people with no knowledge of what went before; this is a basic tenet of radical Communism. The old people, clutching to the remnants of their soft and settled existence, dreaming of a life gone and never to exist again... as the Old One dies, so does the last vestige of any form of culture, or art, of even civilized behavior, and all that is left is a gramophone record of ROLL OUT THE BARREL being carried on horseback by heavily armed and murderous beasts; who themselves lack the capacity to reproduce.I watched this film as a veiled indictment of the Eastern Bloc Communist belief that required history to be eradicated, for a new world to emerge after that holocaust, only to find the act of destruction (with an intent to rebuild) resulted in nothing less than the death of civilization and the creation of savages with no higher conscience. I admit to an influence, though, in that I was in the Balkans during the 'wars' of the 1990s; and one of the most striking and heartbreaking things was many people's belief that Socialism had created a New Man, with no history; and how unfathomably shocked they were to have these fine creations of humanity revealed as violent animals bent on nothing more than mindless destruction.

Depicting a dark and nomadic future, The End of August at the Hotel Ozone is a film that was ahead of its time. Much of Hollywood and television have generated many post apocalyptic material in the last twenty years. Whether it has to do with nuclear war becoming more and more realistic or Nostradamus' predictions that the world will end in 2012, or somewhere in between, we will never know. But the entertainment business has cashed in on the very real and terrifying idea, or perhaps actuality.The film directed by Jan Schmidt and made in 1966, is set in an unknown year. To the characters it doesn't matter what year it is and realistically speaking it wouldn't matter anyway. The world has ended through nuclear holocaust and a strong opening conveys this narrative with countdowns spoken in every language, counting down the end of the world, which is fantastic.Following eight young women born after the end, the story involves an older woman who is leading them to find civilization, if any. Everyone else has died including all the males leaving the women to fend for themselves. Much of the film depicts their lives out in the country and it makes for needless and boring stuff, though it has a point. At the end of the world these women have nothing and the director captures a very authentic realism. These eight young women are held at bay by the will of the older woman who is the last inkling of the old, civilized world. Yet the realism goes beyond the boring stuff. The actresses in this film are seen catching runaway horses and mounting them bareback while running and diving doing all their own stunts. In this sense the film sometimes seems as if it is a documentary instead.Halfway through the film they meet up with an old man, a partner for the old woman. The young women don't know what he is, never having seen a man before. The relationship between the two older people is truly heartbreaking. The young women look like savages in front of them and there is a scene where everyone is eating which depicts just that. The old woman on one end and the old man on the other while all the young women in between. In scenes like this the director's voice can be heard loud and clear. This film isn't just about the end of the world; it is a commentary on the human condition which is timeless. The younger generation comes up and destroys what the older generation worked for. Without guidance the children become savages, and generations of the vicious circle will eventually lead us back to the Stone Age, nomadic and primitive. The film ends with the two older people dead and the "children" alone, doing and taking what they please. Jan Schmidt's outlook on life is grim though maybe not entirely untrue.