Valley of the Bees (1968)

Valley of the Bees (1968)

Directed by: Frantisek Vlácil

Starring: Petr Cepek, Jan Kacer, Vera Galatíková

Contrary to what the title may suggest, Valley of the Bees is not a movie about bees who eat people or anything like that. In fact, it’s a Czech New Wave film (don’t know what New Wave means? Well… go look it up, I ain’t gotta explain everything to you, man) about incest and religious zealotry. I just wanted to clarify that so nobody else makes the same mistake I did.

The story is about a boy who grows up in a religious order of knights in the middle ages. When he returns home, he falls in love with his step-mother, who is significantly younger than his dad, and they start having an affair. He’s caught by his friend in the order and thrown quite literally to the dogs.

There’s a lot of philosophical discussion in this film and things of that sort. It’s interesting enough, I guess, if you’re into that sorta thing, but it’s really just not my scene. It’s got really pretty cinematography, and the acting is fine, it just wasn’t a story that piqued my interest.