Mastery

A documentary essay about manipulation based largely on an encounter with prominent Czech sculptor and man of a peculiar life story Pavel Opočenský who was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for sexual abuse of girls under age fifteen, endangering the moral education of youths and for disorderly conduct. Director Kateřina Turečková builds a critical essay that navigates a network of characters to probe the principles of power and manipulation against the backdrop of Opočenský’s life and recollections. Tools and methods of control are not exclusive to the mass media or political parties. Even more so, they are principles ordinary people exploit to influence the values of others in everyday communication. Opočenský is an ambivalent prototype of borderline behaviour usually met with shallow sympathy. The only possibility of conflict is presented in confrontation with the director, the victims’ experience, or directly – with the moral convictions of the audience. The film’s stylized, formally differentiated layers outline diverse approaches to seemingly clear-cut questions and answers about who has “mastery” over us.