The sixties were a Golden Age for Czech cinema, and Marketa Lazarová is both a big production and an art movie; sounds promising, but the best I can say for it is that it's successfully evocative of a dark, grim medieval world. Otherwise, try as I might to invest and involve myself as a viewer, I found this a veritable snoozefest. A barren movie which sprawls over two hours and forty minutes only because of how sluggishly paced it is, and for no other reason.

Stunning cinematography and sound design combine to produce a fantastically well-realised atmosphere. Watching Marketa Lazarova is like stepping into a time machine and being whisked back to a simpler and more savage time before civilisation was very civilised.

incomprehensible plot

Rewatching this, it is a true definition of an epic medieval tale one which feels like it is centuries old. Titanic in terms of presentation compared to nearly every other film I have seen in my life, this is just a flat out masterpiece.

Visually stunning movie in scenes outdoors, the battlehill-scenes in particular very impressive. Didn't quite get what was going on in the first part, but part 2 made a great impression. I would have to watch this again to truly grasp it, I think.

As bombastic as an Easter Mass, with just as much brimstone moralism and elemental eroticism, Lazarova has its flaws (see above reasons), but it festers in your head regardless. The cinematography, art design and editing scream immediacy, making the production epic enough for only God to narrate. Personally, the 'requiem of the dead and madness' chapter ranks among the finest of film art. The rest can try your patience, but probably because your brain is sprinting.

Amazing cinematography! I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, but a second viewing should fix that. If you sent Tarkovsky and Eisenstein back in time to 1200 AD, and told them to film a documentary, they would come back with something like this movie. There are some "Virgin Spring"-like religious themes about Pagans and Christians, as well as some Kurosawa-looking battles. If I didn't drop enough names yet, God Himself is the narrator! What more could you want?

This has been dubbed the greatest Czech film of all time, but I just wasn't feeling it. The biggest problem was that I spent much of the movie trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It's often an impenetrable mess. And when it wasn't confusing it was rather dull. The photography is excellent and the period recreation is competent. But it rarely grabbed hold of me, and there were only a few scattered scenes where my attention was engaged.

Try to imagine medieval men and women as they were, and not as people of the XXIth centurey dressed in medieval clothes. Try to understand how they though, how they loved, how they believe in God (or gods), how they had fear and honor and greed. Add the image genius of a Kurosawa or a Leone, the mysticism of a Bergman, a lanscinant music, the beauty of Czech plains... This is Marketa Lazarova, one of the best movie ever made.

It's three hours of incomprehensible plotting about a young virgin in the medieval era. It really could've used more explanations. On the other hand, this is one hell of an incredible experience, unique, eerie and just fascinating to watch, so perhaps plotting would've ruined it? All I know is I was enraptured by it for three uninterrupted hours.

I've read over the years how this is the 'best Czech movie ever made' and was excited to see it after getting a region-free player. However, I have to say I was disappointed. Perhaps the story is a familiar one to Czechs, but I couldn't figure out what was going on here or who was who. The cinematography and music were very nice, but after an hour I got so frustrated I turned it off, which is a rarity for me. Maybe I'll give this another chance in the future.

At times wholly engrossing, at others tranceinducing and almost painfully slow. It works in a sort of jerky ebb-and-flow kind of way, since it's all so beautyful and beautyfully unrelenting. It's the sort of film that would definitely benefit from several rewatches, but inspite of it's obvious qualities, that's just not going to happen. At least not without alcohol.

Awesome historical movie!