''Devět kruhů pekla'' (English: ''Nine Circles of Hell'') is a 1988 Czechoslovak

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Milan Muchna Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. It was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section at the

1989 Cannes Film Festival The 42nd Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 23 May 1989. West German filmmaker Wim Wenders served as jury president for the main competition. American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh won the '' Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for his ...

. The film describes the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

period in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. Tomáš is a Czech doctor working in Phnom Penh and Khema is famous Khmer actress.

Plot

''Nine Circles of Hell'' is a tragic love story of a Czech doctor and a Cambodian woman who marry and have a child but are then separated by the Khmer Rouge regime. The young mother dies from their atrocities and the Czech doctor is sent back to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. When the Khmer Rouge are driven from power, the doctor returns and is reunited with his child.

Analysis

''Nine Circles of Hell'' is a rare witness on tape of the state of Phnom Penh in the aftermath of the Khmer Civil War. As a Czech-Cambodian romantic drama production supported by both the Department of Film of the Ministry of Culture of Kampuchea and the Czech ''Nine Circles of Hell'', it belongs among those eighties co-productions that stemmed from cultural activities agreed with “friendly ommunistregimes” of the time. One of the expert consultants, Ruy Neakong, is one of only fourteen survivors from the twenty thousand prisoners of the Tuol Sleng prison which operated in Phnom Penh between 1975 and 1979. Another expert consultant, Chheng Phon laeter became the director of the Cambodian National Conservatoire and later the Cambodian minister of culture – as he helped to educate younger representatives in the national cultural traditions because he was one of only a few students and ten teachers who had survived the Khmer genocide.

Cast

Milan Kňažko Milan Kňažko (born 28 August 1945) is a Slovak actor and politician. He was one of the leading personalities of the Public against Violence movement in November 1989 and one of the most popular faces of the Velvet Revolution in Slovakia. Ac ...

as Tomáš **

Petr Čepek Petr Čepek (16 September 1940 – 20 September 1994) was a Czechs, Czech actor. He was among the founders of The Drama Club theatre in Prague, where he played from 1965 until his death. He also had dozens of film roles, and he won the Czech Lion ...

as Tomáš (voice) * Oum Savanny as Khema * Heng Chanrith as Dr. Rath Thong * Ban Thavy as Thyda * Nov Chandary as Chivan * Khuon Chhum as Pon * Jiří Samek as doc. Samek *

Jiří Schmitzer Jiří Schmitzer (born 25 October 1949) is a Czech actor and musician, the son of actor Jiří Sovák. He is a four-time holder of the Czech Lion Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Biography Career Schmitzer graduated from the Theatre Fa ...

as Dalibor * Jan Schmid as dr. Kubeš * Milan Lasica as dr. Kalivoda

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devet Kruhu Pekla 1988 films 1988 drama films 1980s war drama films Czech romantic action films Czech war drama films 1980s Czech-language films Czechoslovak drama films Films about the Cambodian genocide Czech action war films Czech romantic drama films

Plot

Analysis

Cast

See also

References

External links