A monumental epic filmed in the mountain regions of South Bohemia, Marketa Lazarova is an ancient tale told with a striking visual sensibility. Set in the 13th century at a time of transition from tribal to state (and church) law, the film develops a comparison between tribal barbarism and “civilized” brutality. The story involves a squire's daughter who is kidnapped by a band of brutal thieves on the eve of her entry into a convent. In the midst of savagery, mysticism and madness, a love affair develops between, the girl, Marketa Lazarova, and the son of the Kozlik clan, with ominous consequences. On the film's premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1968, it was noted, “The narrative is haphazardly formed, so that it should be viewed and followed like an occult and ancient dream. These are not performers that one sees, but barbaric, medieval demons who reveal glimpses of softer feeling at odd moments, when either superstition or lust provokes them to action. This is one of the most artistic and convincing medieval epics ever made, plunging us into the past with a relentless assault upon the visual senses with both dazzling and horrifying effects. The characters are larger than life, and hauntingly memorable.... Through all the outbursts of Orff-like chorales and physical energy, the events become vignettes of time, where waiting wolves stand in the snowy forests, ready to devour.”