jasper-201-615498 A group of woman following an, implied, nuclear holocaust go on a search for men who enable them to continue the human race.The group's leader is the only one to be born pre-war and the only with an idea of civilised values, and also seemingly the only one with common sense. e.g. at one point the other women break open a drum of flammable fluid using an axe.(Apparently exposure to high levels of radiation in the womb can lead to mental retardation. Just a thought.) The women in group are not Hollywood glamour types, but they are all healthy and attractive. Which is perhaps a little odd given that their diet seems to consist of fifty year old tinned food and whatever else they can scavenge. Though this is perhaps just as well because, apart from the occasional quirk, only physical appearance differentiated the group as individual characters.With the exception of the older woman leading them, the group seems to have descended to the level of barbarians. No thought beyond self-gratification, and no this not a reference to Sapphic shenanigans, the main enjoyment for the woman seems to be cruelty to animals, which there is quiet a bit of in the film, coupled with an attitude of want it, take it. (Note: If you are an old gentleman and a bunch of wild and armed amazons want your prized gramophone, probably best to just hand it over.) And no thought of the long-term future; when deprived of leadership, aimless wandering seems to be their only goal.Perhaps this is the point of the film; when deprived the benefits of education - though at least some of the women are literate - and a society to impart values, barbarism will become the norm.Certainly the point of the film wasn't to entertain people. Events such as searching an apparently deserted town or crossing a wild river, seem flat and devoid of drama. Probably because I found it difficult to really care about any of the characters.The film is about a hour-and-twenty minutes long; it feels longer.

effigiebronze 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.

littlesiddie There isn't much of a story line in this film. But the characters and atmosphere are very effective.There is one somewhat disturbing, but brief, sequence where a nice looking German shepherd dog is killed. I think they just simulated it's death by catching one of it's legs in a humane trap, but the dog's piteous yelps are still very heart rending.The rest of the movie is very good, especially towards the end when the group of women are staying at the nearly abandoned hotel.In a way, this movie was very well structured, even though there isn't much of story. It starts out slow and sets a scene, and then the plot thickens fairly smoothly and progressively towards the end. And it has a really tremendous ending, but I don't want to reveal it.And, of course, the best thing about this movie are the feral young Amazonian women.I'd love to have a copy of this film. It's a pity that it's out of print.

rhopkins It is 25 or so years after a nuclear war, and a few hardy young women, and an older leader, are wandering (in Czechoslovakia?) in search of canned food from before the war that can be safely eaten. No men apparently survive, being less resistant to radiation. They come across a mountain resort hotel, the Hotel Ozone, where an old man lives alone with a wind-up record player and old books and magazines. The young women, raised as barbarians, act the part. The person who introduced me to this chilling movie pointed out that science fiction movies were supposed to have monsters, and suggested looking for the monsters in this one. The B&W cinematography is great, especially in scenes of the women practicing their horseback riding skills and exploring a ruined town. You'll never be able to hear the tune "Roll Out the Barrel" the same way again.