"On behalf of the republic, we cut your head!" That's how Dne Yppah (read it backwards) starts. And I thought I will see one of those parodies of the communist regime, typical for the Czech, Hungarian, Polish or Yugoslavian cinema of the '60s - 70s. In those former communist countries, you could have your head cut or hanged or shot if, for example, you dared to speak bad about the communist state statutes and politics. In Romania, before 1989, many jokes circulating were about the dictatorial regime. One of them said that if you tell political jokes, you can choose yourself a self-criticism, self-police-van or a self-autopsy... In conclusion, this is not an awakening of the soul through spiritual knowledge. This is an unique, original film. Through sarcasm, Oldrich Lipský, who offered us also the western parody Lemonade Joe(1964), now makes us complicit with this Happy End (1967), a total parody of life, including birth, love, wedding, death. But everything is lived opposite, that begins with the death (execution by guillotine) and ends with birth. All the actors are impeccable and the whole film, although spoken, has the air of a comedy from the silent era of Chaplin or Buster Keaton.
Review of Happy End
