Thread: The hot summer of 1968. Film about Czechoslovakia.

This film was shown on Russian TV several years ago and was made in 2007, I think.
http://www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=297042
What do you think of it?

It depends on whether it takes any political views!
I think the USSR should have left Czechoslovakia alone at that point in time!
It would be interesting also to hear what the Czech & Slovakians think of it...

But thanks for the tip - sounds like a film worth watching. Did you see it yourself?

Did you see it yourself?

Yes, of course. That's why I suggest it.

It depends on whether it takes any political views!

It can't help taking.

Originally Posted by Hanna

It depends on whether it takes any political views!
I think the USSR should have left Czechoslovakia alone at that point in time!

From the viewpoint of USSR surviving as long as possible it should not.

Originally Posted by Hanna

It would be interesting also to hear what the Czech & Slovakians think of it...

What can they think? Obviously they are unhappy, but it was rather long ago and there are not much strong emotions about that nowadays, I think.

I heard Czechs and i strongly disagree with their position.

As far as I understand, they wanted to do a bit of social democracy, and then the USSR comes in with tanks and heavy weaponry... Don't see that this is much more justifiable than the Vietnam war which was going on during the same period, for example.

However, I am not here to complain about Russia's history so I'll leave it at saying that according to my limited understanding of what happened there, I do not agree with the USSRs actions....

Perhaps I should watch the film to inform myself a bit!

I completely agree with the idea of making a Russian film about it. No doubt there have already been Czech films made about this event.

Edit: Oh, I thought it was a drama film! Did not realise it was a documentary. And you mean for us to watch it at the vesti.ru site, right? Some people might need subtitles. I am not sure how much I am going to understand. I'll try at some point soon though.

Originally Posted by Hanna

As far as I understand, they wanted to do a bit of social democracy, and then the USSR comes in with tanks and heavy weaponry... Don't see that this is much more justifiable than the Vietnam war which was going on during the same period,

It seems to me like "apples and oranges" to compare this with the Vietnam war -- not because one was more or less "justifiable" than the other, but because the Vietnam war involved at least three different "imperialist powers" intruding into Vietnam. (First the French, who colonized what was then "Indochina"; then the Chinese, who at first simply supported the anti-French rebellion, but then became increasingly militant about establishing Communism in Vietnam and turning the country into a PRC satellite; finally the Americans, who at first simply supported the anti-communists, but then plunged into a full-scale war, using Vietnam as a "proxy" in a larger fight against "Global Communism.")

But the events of the 1968 "Prague Spring" and its subsequent repression were basically an episode in the history of Czechoslovakia's occupation by a single imperialist power -- i.e., the USSR, from the end of WWII to the end of the Soviet Union.

Again, this has nothing to do with moral justifiability; it just makes the situations... well, different.

Originally Posted by Marcus

I heard Czechs and i strongly disagree with their position.

What exactly do you disagree with?

Originally Posted by Hanna

As far as I understand, they wanted to do a bit of social democracy, and then the USSR comes in with tanks and heavy weaponry... Don't see that this is much more justifiable than the Vietnam war which was going on during the same period, for example.

However, I am not here to complain about Russia's history so I'll leave it at saying that according to my limited understanding of what happened there, I do not agree with the USSRs actions....

Perhaps I should watch the film to inform myself a bit!

I completely agree with the idea of making a Russian film about it. No doubt there have already been Czech films made about this event.

Edit: Oh, I thought it was a drama film! Did not realise it was a documentary. And you mean for us to watch it at the vesti.ru site, right? Some people might need subtitles. I am not sure how much I am going to understand. I'll try at some point soon though.

Yes, I mean for you to watch it at vesti.ru site.
The USSR did not mind some reforms, but it could not let CZechoslovakia leave the Warsaw Pact and join the NATO. The US worked much that time in order to bring the pro-American forces to power in Czechoslovakia, so both superpowers were involved.
I did not understand what Throbert meant.

Originally Posted by Marcus

Yes, I mean for you to watch it at vesti.ru site.
The USSR did not mind some reforms, but it could not let CZechoslovakia leave the Warsaw Pact and join the NATO. The US worked much that time in order to bring the pro-American forces to power in Czechoslovakia, so both superpowers were involved.
I did not understand what Throbert meant.

Heh, apart from the Checzs themselves would've been way better off joining the "pro-American forces" (scale of living, etc.), the Americans didn't ever then use tanks to persuade a European country to join them.

Eric, they split up Europe at Yalta. Russians got some parts and Americans, UK and France some other parts. Nobody had a choice in the matter. Greece for example wanted to be Socialist but were not allowed and a right wing dictator was installed with the support of the US. Something similar might easily have happened in Spain which was also a right wing dictatorship for a long time after the war, with the blessing of the USA. These countries are suffering from this to this day.

If you think that Germans and others like it that there are US bases in their countries you would be totally mistaken. They had no choice after the war. The bases are a fact. Next time you meet a German or an Italian, ask them about it.

If you pass an American base on a normal train or bus in continental Europe, non locals often watch out the window and you can here them say really negative things about the base, the Americans etc. There is anti-american graffiti near the bases.

I once lived quite close to an American base in the UK and locals were not keen on it, and did not like all the secrecy or the behaviour of the Americans on town. The UK is probably the country that is the least negative towards US bases. Compare also with Japan that has been trying to get rid of the Americans for decades - they just refuse to leave. Check out the background on the American base on Okinawa, for example.

Every time there is a manifestation outside a US base, the police come and clear them off in about 5 seconds and the whole thing is silenced. Media never talks about how people really feel about these bases.

Citizens can no more get rid of the American bases than the East Germans could get rid of Russian bases during the Cold War.

I didn't solely mean the bases, but the level of financial, humanitarian aid, etc. in general shortly after the WW2. The socialist part then just lost their opportunity to get the benefits because their bosses told them to refuse any help from the west countries, meanwhile those bosses were too affected by the war themselves (unlike the U.S.), which pretty much ruined any chances they would help. And having gotten in the socialist trap, locked down and without help, the eastern Europe just got what it got. A simple look at both west and east Berlin parts after the collapse of the Berlin wall was enough to see which system was better.

The socialist bosses, however, would always be harsh on their socialist puppets did those show any disobeyance. (like those events in 1968 )

And there are examples of Russian spoken with Polish and Czech accents in this film.