Zrcadlení (1966) - full transcript

REFLECTION

Mr. Sladek,

wake up.

Mr. Sladek!

Well...

Take a nice deep breath.

I am.

Breathe really deeply, huh?

Yeah.

What's your name?

What's your name, sir?



You're Sladecek.

In my opinion,
one should live to the fullest,

everyday,

without excessively philosophizing
on the meaning of life.

We should strive
to avoid thinking about death.

And eventually prepare for dying
in a calm and rational manner.

And always keep
the spirit balanced.

Mr. Sladecek!

Are you awake?

Only just, huh?

Take a nice deep breath.
And tell me your name, huh?

Sladecek.
- Sladecek. And your first name?

What did you say?

Karel?



Yes, right.
I see, you can remember your name.

Now, take another nice deep breath.

Yes, it's just a little bruise.
Nothing serious.

But open your eyes wide.
Yes.

Open your eyes.

Put your hand like this.

Breathe deeply, huh?

Take a nice deep breath.
C'mon!

No more sleeping!

C'mon.

Tell us your name?

What's your name?

What's your name?

Mr. Mertl, try
to lift your head a bit.

As high as you can.
Nicely. Yeees.

His pulse is still slightly irregular.

And tell us
what's your address?

Can you remember?

Can you?

Open your mouth.
Open your mouth nice and wide.

Stick out your tongue.
A nice deep breath.

Nice and deep!
Yes.

Right!

After patients arrive
in the hospital,

especially the younger ones
who were healthy before,

often they realize

only at this point

the value of life

and the joy

associated with health.

It's a sick person
who especially

realises
with full force and clarity

the beauty and joys
of a fully-fledged life.

It's also remarkable
that in the hospital

many sick people experience

a shift of values.

Things that mattered greatly before

are now perceived
as petty and insignificant.

On the other hand,
things taken for granted

are suddenly perceived
as a great gift in life.

I wish to live because I want to take
part in raising my grandchildren.

Your first grandchild?
- No, second. From my second daughter.

And you'll take care of them.
- Yes.

What's death?

I don't know because
I can't define life.

But I think

death is part of life.

Without death, life would
become completely pointless.

I don't fear death
because I think so far I've lived...

or...

I mean, so far

I've stayed healthy.

I don't need...

Actually, it's all strange
to imagine one's own death.

What's death?
I can reply as follows.

From a medical, an expert
point of view, death is

an irreversible collapse of all
the vital processes and functions.

Well, as to fearing death?

It's hard to respond.

Maybe,

from my personal perspective,
I can say I don't fear death.

Death is cessation

of material existence.

So, are you awake, Mr. Micka?

Tell me.
- I am, nurse.

Does it hurt?

It does.

What's the time?
Any idea?

It's about 9 AM.

Do you think so?

You said, it's 1 hour after the operation
which lasted an hour. So, it's 12 PM.

And does it hurt a lot?

A lot.

Well, it'll be much better.

You'll get a jab soon
and it'll vastly improve.

Hope is the last thing
that dies in a person.

In my view, the question
of meaning of life is

somewhat pointless.

Because the word "meaning"

is itself a rather vague term.

I think that

life is supposed to be lived
and in this dwells...

to use the word "meaning",
in this dwells its meaning.

There is no other, concocted,
otherworldly "meaning".

Life has to be lived.

Death is just a deadline.
No need to fear it.

What might fill us with fear
is life itself,

or maybe some of its parts.

Does it hurt?

It doesn't, doctor.

Or maybe a bit directly in the wound.
- And from the backside?

No.

Isn't it sensitive?
- No.

Only in the wound.
- I see, it might still hurt.

It needs patience.

You look good today.
- Do I?

Am I paler, doctor?
- You are.

You have a fresh look
due to a sound sleep.

Mhm.

I need a drink. I'm still thirsty.
- Did you have any pain?

I feel rather dizzy
and nauseous, doctor.

Okay. But no pains anymore?
After the jab, the pains receded, right?

After getting Dolsin,
I feel great relief, doctor.

So, it improved substantially, huh?
- Yes.

As I observe in the hospital

every day

sick and dying people...

I see the meaning of life
in the following...

we should oppose individual
selfishness, in all its manifestations,

be it displayed in others,
or within oneself.

And we should strive

every day

to be,

in relation to
a suffering person,

a help.

You know, in my life, or my profession,
I encounter a lot of

pain and suffering

and it makes me think that
people tend to complicate their lives

with petty issues and unnecessary
troubles which can be easily solved.

With my upcoming operation,

I realized how
ephemeral life is.

After getting a jab,
I was falling into the darkness.

And then, after waking up,

I felt so happy that I'm going
to see my children again.

You know, how to put it...

any long-term illness,

or any illness that...

most probably - even in the opinion of
a patient - won't bring a happy ending...

so, such a patient will certainly,
at one point, ask his doctor,

"Why me? Why has
this suffering been inflicted on me?"

He might be convinced he never
did anything wrong to anyone.

So, why is it him

who is being punished for something?

Then a doctor finds himself
in a really difficult situation

because doctors are not
trained nowadays to provide

some kind of
all-embracing consolation.

Many times I used to think,

as there are already so many
different misfortunes in the world,

why do people embitter
their lives even more

with troublemaking,
mutual hatred, envy,

and all the other negative
aspects of social coexistence

one can encounter?

The person who

is optimistic to the point of
looking at things through

rose tinted glasses,

he then has to deal

with a huge mental downfall

when he, for example, gets to know

he has been diagnosed
with an incurable disease.

He faces the fact and...

knows his prospect is,

let's say,

six or eight months of slow dying

and...

someone who has become immersed

in the idea of the rosy tinted

world of constant improvement,

where everything only
gets better and better,

can't cope with it.

But the most important thing is not to
be preoccupied solely with oneself.

This seems to me as crucial.
Not to think solely of oneself

and one's suffering. Once thinking is no
longer egocentric, fear of death is gone.

It dissipates.

The biggest adversary
of modern life is fear.

Fear is naturally given to a man

but the excess of fear
we observe in modern society

is debilitating,

it hurts him, and is...

in brief, cruel.

Well, I think the most
important thing is to stay healthy.

Because a healthy person has no
reason whatsoever to be unhappy.

But...

I know many people

who are physically
perfectly healthy

and still lack happiness.

However, I don't consider health as
the goal of life, but just a means.

Often, we've to ask question,
if this particular means

is used rightly, and for what
purpose it's being used.

Life has to be lived

in a day-by-day perspective...

so to speak.

Every day,
every period of life,

should contain

certain pleasures,
goals, fulfilment.

If one is incapable of

finding a purpose to the present moment,
the present activity, the current work,

if this is missing,

then, in such a case,
it's a clear hint

that a person aspires
to becoming psycho-neurotic.

The loneliest people
I can ever imagine

are alcoholics.

Their ultimate destination

is usually the closed ward
of a psychiatric hospital.

You know, these people

wanted to buy happiness in life,

and the whole purpose of their life,

very cheaply.

People don't drink because

they want to satiate their
longing for alcohol, or selfishness.

It's rather that

the alcohol releases their tension

which arises

from unsatisfactory relations
towards other people.

Well, in my personal view

to live a happy life

one needs to have

around one

some friends...

in whom one can
have full confidence.

There should be...

some kind of mutually warm

relationship.

To have

friends

who are absolutely

reliable.

Among these friends

I also count relatives, wife.

One should live some kind of

happy private life.

Without something like this,
in my view,

one can't go on for a long, I guess.

You know, I think that for
most people it's essential

to feel needed.

They need to feel - for some other people,
or some community, or whatever -

somehow indispensable,
somehow useful,

to be appreciated.

Well, there might be some people

who don't need it,
who are able

to be on their own,

to be happy without that,

but such people are rare, I expect.

Nowadays, the way of life...

I mean,

here or anywhere else...

is very tiresome and hectic.

Thus people seek release valves.

They're looking for an escape route,

for something meaningful,
something of value or merit,

for a place to take a refuge
after all the labor and rush.

I believe

the greatest...

or hitting a jackpot is

if two people can get along.

Usually, a sense of meaning
is brought into my life

with moments or experiences

that come all of a sudden,

mostly without planning,

that leave long-lasting impressions.

I'm not happy with my life because

it seems to me

it lacks some kind of fulfillment.

It seems to me, I live without perspective
and isolated from other people.

I can't get closer to someone and

at the same time

no one can get closer to me.

I feel a certain distrust...

towards people, and in general

towards things,
towards my own acts,

and acts of other people.

What's the goal of my life? I want
to be a valuable member of society.

I want to be able to do
good deeds in my life.

What's are your fears... in life?

What should we all
try to avoid in our lives?

We should steer clear
of wrong responses

in various circumstances.

We shouldn't hurt others.

Because it's in our nature...

we tend

to hurt others and at the same time
to feel others are hurting us.

In my view, one of the...

things in life that might have
a negative impact on a person

is a lack of interest

of other people about that person.

While speaking about values...

I'd say, there are
certain values that are

worth living for.

And, those are?

Those are...

love,

beauty,

to understand people
and to like them.

What's dangerous?

Dangerous?

Loneliness.

What's unbearable?

Unbearable?

At times, others.

I'm convinced that
an individual in a society

can't exist as a separate unit.

And...

as the best human trait

I consider

love.

Of course,
I deny the soul's existence but

everything that a person manifests

or all we can observe about him

is an expression of his inner life.

You know,

if I could recall my mom then...

well, then...

just to recall her...

I'd never do what I did.

I did such a stupid thing

which I deeply regret and which...

the last thing I remember
is the blue sky above me.

I can't even recall how it happened.

I just know when I woke up I saw
huge rocky hills stretching above me

and those were people.

What I value most,

maybe friendship.

I came to the conclusion
it's the only real value.

Overall.

Interpersonally.

It's not love, but friendship.

Why not love?

It seems selfish to me.

What kind of friendship?

Full of freedom, of equality,
completely independent, or...

without any limits.
Or what shall I say?

Or I don't know.
I'm still too young.

I'm still looking for a clue to what keeps
people afloat. It's beyond my grasp.

Sometimes, I tend to think

it's because they
can repress thinking.

Somehow, they're thoughtless...

the beings who live without
reflecting on their lives.

I lack confidence
and I am afraid

to be with other people.

It's more bearable to be alone
than to be with other people.

With people who

make me suffer.

Anyway, whatever.

All this talking is annoying.

Well, yes, it's annoying.

I'd prefer
if there would be something...

maybe it's feasible,

well,

to have a device

attuned

to brainwaves or something,

and the other person
wouldn't need to speak and

we'd communicate

directly.

Because words are

often inappropriate.

At least, in my view.
Maybe others are fine?!

Well, from a medical point of view,

we can only reduce the burden
some people carry.

But to decrease the incidence of suicide,
or neuroticism, as we used to say,

would be possible only...

with overall, a general improvement...

with a better social cohesion,
better interpersonal relationships.

Well...

it's one of the problems
of modern psychotherapy.

In the past, we believed a person
could be thoroughly reconfigured.

Today, we're much less ambitious.

We're just trying to assist people,
so they can live rationally

their individual lives,
regardless of the assets,

they acquired in the early
stages of their childhood.

In my view,
it's very important for everyone

not to be overly afraid
and to be moral.

Fear is our natural predisposition.

Intentionally inducing
fear in others is a crime.

What's a human?

I prefer not to specify.

Oh, vanity,

I was so unprepared.

I was fleetingly touching all the
ordinary things from all the sides.

As if searching

was supposed
to proceed into the future.