The Cremator (1969) – DVD Review

So, I just finished watching The Cremator, aka Spalovac mrtvol, and boy, that was not what I was expecting at all. After wandering online a bit, I was lead to believe that I was going to be watching a very dark comedy, or at least something so ridiculous that I would find humor in it. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Cremator is a very slow decent into the mind of a man who thinks he’s freeing the souls from those that he cremates and, in turn, allows them to be reincarnated as something better. Of course, all of this is set against the backdrop of World War II and Hitler’s rise to power (now, please tell me where the humor is in that?).

Rating:

Kopfrkingl (Rudolf Hrusinsky) plays our lead character, the cremator. He lives with his family, and they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves (at least in the cremation business). Everything’s going well, and Kopfrkingl is just happy to be burning the dead, until one day, he runs into his old war buddy Reineke who plays with his emotions and eventually draws him over to the Nazi party. Soon enough, Kopfrkingl’s mind starts to slip and over the course of the film, his delusions become more and more real.

This film crawls, and I’m sure it’ll drive more then a few people nuts. It bothered me for a bit in the beginning (especially the awkward style in which the director decided to give some of the exposition, but I’ll come to that later). After about twenty minutes, the pieces fall into place, and the audience knows each character’s place in the film. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the film is also extremely slow, but the story is so well done that it feels like its speeding up when nothing’s really happening at all. Does that make sense? Maybe not, but that’s how it felt. The Cremator is almost all talking, but the interactions between the characters drive the story forward and allow Kopfrkingl to slip further and further into madness (I don’t really want to give anything away about our main character here).

So, what did I mean, earlier, about the awkward style that the director tells the story? Two things: One, is how Kopfrkingl shares his exposition. Instead of simply talking to someone (how most directors would share exposition), he turns to the camera (usually in a weird angle or through an object) and will explain something for a minute or two at a time. As he slips further and further into delusion, another “self” appears and gives him advice (talking to the camera as if he’s talking to himself). The other, is some of the transitions between scenes. Instead of simply cutting to another sequence the film will sometimes hold on a character and pull back, showing that character in another place altogether. One of the more interesting examples of this would be when the focus is on Kopfrkingl’s son in on place, zoom in on his face and then, when the camera pulls back, he’s in the middle of a crowd watching a boxing match. It’s the little touches like this that add so much to the film.

Speaking of transitions, the camerawork in The Cremator is top notch. Everything is black and white (which I know will turn off some more people who made it through the slow-pace filter), and that just adds to the overall creepiness of the film. The inside of the crematorium is fantastically shot. As Kopfrkingl walks certain characters through its halls, we see the vibrant whites of the walls, only offset by coffins, the furnace and the occasional shadow. The hallway shots are truly a thing of beauty. Even the first person shots throughout the film (usually through Kopfrkingl’s eyes) add a touch to the story that makes his character so much more creepy and unnerving then he probably might have been had it been shot otherwise.

Overall, The Cremator is a very unnerving film that will suck you in and not let go until the final frame cuts to black. I have to say that my eyes were glues to the screen, waiting for another scene until the credits rolled (don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid ending, I just thought that they might throw out a twist like so many other horrific films tend to do). I highly recommend this film to anyone that’s a fan of characters sinking into a darker place and how they affect everyone around them. The Cremator is not a fun film, but it sure as hell has a bite to it, and if you’re looking for more then the usual cookie-cutter stuff, I recommend checking this out.