Transfer de Personalitate aka Personality Transfer, based on Povestiri Vesele aka Stories by Jaroslav Hasek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-good-soldier-svejk-by-jaroslav-hasek.html - 7 out of 10

 

Transfer de Personalitate aka Personality Transfer, based on Povestiri Vesele aka Stories by Jaroslav Hasek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-good-soldier-svejk-by-jaroslav-hasek.html

 

7 out of 10

 

 

The adaptation of a story by Jaroslav Hasek that I have seen last night was not just flawed, it seemed rather bad, albeit it was nominated for some prizes by the UNITER, which means either I am talking nonsense (spoiler alert: it sounds about right) or they do not know what they are talking about, and the third option:

 

The level in that year (and maybe for longer) for theater productions for television, in my land, dropped so low that this bizarre offer was As Good As It Gets – indeed, as far as I can tell, the actor in the leading role of Josef Pabliceck used to be the dean of the University of Acting, and maybe he still has that important position

There is also Dorel Visan, another thespian of the old guard, one that had some merits, but if you ask me, he is over the top, offensive at times, and I cannot help but think of what he did off stage, where he appears to be the promoter of some outlandish notions, and yes, we must concentrate on the art, not the individual, but this is a subjective take

 

Intellectuals https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/intellectuals-by-paul-johnson.html is a marvelous book by Paul Johnson, in which we find about the life of Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen, Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and a few other prominent luminaries, who have had some awful sides to their character…

Nevertheless, it is one thing to forgive the author of Anna Karenina, and another to be clement with some rather over rated actor, or maybe a whole cast, which seems to be the case here, with the exception of Emilia Popescu and Constantin Dinulescu – there is surely another unfortunate contribution there, that of the director

 

After the spoiler alert above, and the reminder here that you would do well to avoid this space, at least from now on, let us speak about the play, based on a story by Jaroslav Hasek, who is not a favorite of mine anyway, I was not crazy about The Good Soldier Sveik, an acclaimed novel, one of the 1,000 we all have to read, allegedly

The start was not that bad, with two policemen talking about the original sin, Adam and the way the mighty are also sinful, but then it quickly degenerates, in my view, for they arrest a man, Josef Pabliceck, on flimsy suppositions, and if that happens all the time, the handling of the plot, the acting were below average

 

The man is in front of a shop that says Pabliceck and he states that this is his name, and we quickly think of the outstanding Franz Kafka https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-metamorphosis-by-franz-kafka.html, after all, we are in the Czech realms, and the absurdity, the oppressive officials, recall The Trial and other works

It is late at night – the stupid, aggressive, irresponsible officer will insist that ‘good men are in their bed, after midnight’ – and the policemen state that this is a thief, the shirt he has with him had been stolen, it is evidence, and they are taking him to the station, and arrest him, perhaps on further, more serious charges…

 

They will say that he must have killed the owner of the business, and the fact that on the premises there is no sign of a fight, violence, never mind murder, just adds to their conviction, it is clear that this is a perverse criminal, and he has eliminated all the proofs, although they take his fingerprints and for them they advance the case

One of the men of the law says that he has the cranium, all the traits of a perverted fellow, and that is for the audience a testimony to the racism, ignominy of these men, the plot belongs to about one hundred years ago, or maybe we go back further – then the maid comes and declares that her master is missing, he is Josef Pabliceck

 

Meanwhile, the prisoner starts the Personality Transfer that we have in the title, he starts doubting his identity, if the men of the law keep saying he is not Pabliceck, they must know what they are talking about, and then he becomes…Galileo Galilei, influenced by another inmate, the actor was criticized above…

Eventually, the fiancée walks into the precinct and she also wants the law to find her man, only when he is eventually brought to the surface, he is in denial, he is not Josef, he is Galileo Galilei, when the judge arrives, the latter is skeptical of the work of the police, and that sounds promising, only there is no good outcome

 

The prisoner clashes with the judge – the judge is portrayed by Constantin Dinulescu, who is probably more than eighty years old now, approaching ninety, but I still saw him at the health club downtown, where I expressed my gratitude for the formidable performances with which he has enchanted audiences

We should appreciate the symbolism, the fact that we have the abuses of the law exposed, the stupidity of those in positions of power – I have not mentioned Orange Jesus yet, but he is for me the quintessential fraudster, the crook, Confidence Man https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/confidence-man-making-of-donald-trump.html the one who may well get the most powerful job in the world (Again) next year…

 

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”