The Valley Of The Bees

The Valley Of The Bees

Synopsis

A visionary and evocative medieval epic, The Valley of the Bees chronicles the tale of a young boy forced to join the Order of the Teutonic Knights. As he grows into a man his desire to return to his homeland leads him to abandon the Crusaders, only to be pursued by a fanatical former comrade and pay a terrible price for his rejection of the Holy Order. With its resplendent black-and-white cinematography and highly convincing recreation of 13th-century Europe, the film is a raw and haunting moral fable which raises questions about the conflict between human nature and dogmatism. Released just before the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, the film was given a political interpretation and its screenings severely restricted by the authorities.