Zdeněk Svěrák turns 90: “He’s not a symbol of communism – he’s a symbol of hope we can survive it”
Veteran actor and writer Zdeněk Svěrák is known internationally for Kolya and in his native Czechia for a string of much-loved films and plays. This weekend he turns 90, with the celebrations to be relayed from the Prague theatre he co-created to cinemas around the nation.
Zdeněk Svěrák wrote and starred in the film Kolya, which famously claimed an Oscar for Czechia in 1997.
But in his native country Svěrák – who started out as a school teacher – was already hugely popular for a string of films and theatre plays.
Michal Bregant is the director of the Czech National Film Archive.
“He’s already a part of the history of Czech cinema. He started as an actor, back in the late 1960s. Then his work as a screenwriter is quite remarkable, because he was able to work with other filmmakers, particularly Jiri Menzel; he helped to improve the screenplays for his films in the early 1970s.”
Zdeněk Svěrák appeared in and wrote or co-wrote such loved movies as Waiter, Scarper!, Mareček, Pass Me the Pen!, My Sweet Little Village and Seclusion Near a Forest.
All of these films are massively popular among Czechs and several phrases from them have long been part of everyday speech.
The same goes for his work with the comedic Jára Cimrman Theatre, centred on a mythical “genius”, which he co-founded in the late 1960s and still sometimes appears with at the age of 89.
“I think the strongest element in his humour is irony. Because on the one hand he is trying to destroy certain myths in Czech history, but at the same time he is creating them. So this is a dynamic that is quite interesting. And it’s not only connected to Jára Cimrman – it’s a kind of broader approach.”
Michal Bregant concedes, however, that some of Svěrák’s humour may seem rather dated to contemporary audiences.
“He, in a way, belongs to the 20th century with its patriarchy and particular approach to women. This is something that hasn’t aged well, so to speak. Among the younger generation it’s very often criticised as something obsolete and improper.”
Last weekend Svěrák was one of the main speakers at a massive demonstration in Prague against the Babiš government. This led to criticism from ex-president Václav Klaus, who has accused the actor-writer of being a symbol of the final decades of communism in Czechoslovakia.
Mr. Svěrák was a member of the Communist Party but quit it after the Soviet-led occupation of 1968. And the head of the National Film Archive says Mr. Klaus’s opprobrium is wide of the mark.
“It’s true that Svěrák worked as a screenwriter and actor in the 1970s and 1980s. But he was the one who, with his work, was offering some sort of hope for normal people that the overall stupidity and cruelty of communism will not beat us. So I think he was doing just the opposite. He’s not a symbol of communism – he’s a symbol of the hope that we can survive that. There is something spiritual [about his work], but at the same time it’s funny. And this I think is the energy that people love in his work overall.”
Zdeněk Svěrák turns 90 this coming Saturday, with a special evening in his honour set to take place at the Jára Cimrman Theatre in Prague. It is organised by Czech Radio, where he was once an employee, and will be relayed to over 100 cinemas around the country.
