The film is a sarcastic parable about the unstoppable rise of an individual to power. It is a story about a simple but mysterious and brutal man named Rácz who rises from the bottom rung of the social ladder to the pinnacle of financial and political power. Rácz starts in a boiler-room of a big hotel in the capital city and makes his way through the urban underworld, emerging at last in high society.
This backdrop provides dozens of eccentric, mad, dramatic, and tragic moments. The barrier between personal integrity and the schizophrenia of human beings and society is very unclear.
We do not know the real face and personality of Rácz. We search for it and are not certain whether there may ever be any relevant force or human being who could know him and fight against him.
The film strives to be a bitter metaphor about the end of one period and perhaps the beginning of something new. Nobody knows for sure whether better times are on their way or if they ever will arrive.
Title: Rivers of Babylon - based on the novel by Peter Pišťanek
Screenplay: Peter Pišťanek, Marian Urban, Vlado Balco
Director: Vlado Balco
Director of Photography: Martin Štrba
Art Director: Mito Ferjenčik
Editor: Dušan Milko
Music:Jaro Filip
Filmed in: 35 mm, color
Duration:110 minutes
Co-producers:Ateliéry Zlín a.s., Czech TV Prague
Cast: Andy Hryc, Ady Hajdu, Diana M-rová, Bara Kodetová, Stano Dančiak, Miro Noga, Oldřich Navrátil, Ivo Gogál, Peter Bzdúch, Ľubo Gregor, Peter Šimon, Martin Dohnal, Martina Šrámková
Expected release: Early 1998
Author: Press Release
