Rating: 
Summary: Duplicate/dramatic work by director of "Body Without Soul"
Review: The director of this film (Wiktor Grodecki) also did the documentary exposé "Body Without Soul" just one year earlier in 1996. Before you read further (or order this film), I suggest you go and rent/buy that DVD first. "Mandragora" attempts to dramatize 97% of the content in "Body..."The story is simple (and almost cliché for cinema, but not for real life). Teenage boy (Marek) is fed up with school and his single father; who, incidently, obviously only wants his boy to have a better life than he. Marek becomes a local punk/hoodlum and, in fact, the movie begins with his breaking into a store display window. Still, the father even takes extra measures to deal with authority figures after his son's mischieviousness. Regardless, Marek runs away on a train to Prague and, upon leaving the train, is targeted for induction into the seedy underworld of prostitution in Prague. He's drugged, molested, paid...and in with the game. He soon befriends David, who has high business hopes, but little experience to see them to fruition. David helps free him of the pimp that found him at the train station. Oh...and it should be mentioned that the drama includes no actual prostitution or [simulated] sex. In fact, they soon have 30,000 czech crowns[],and you literally have to assume they got it through prostitution. All along, we see their adventures through Marek's eyes. The bars, the prostitution, understanding the pimps and the johns...all of these things are matters of course. They move from being initial 'rabbits' (newcomers/fresh) to professionals, to entrepreneurs and ultimately into pornography. The movie is often slow. It actually takes 35 minutes for Marek to realize that he's becoming a prostitute...the actual point of the movie. On top of that, the images are generally dark and the translations are poorly done. In many cases, you often wonder what the heck they meant by certain statemtents. Also, the continuity is horrible. You never really know when and/or where they are in the story. Then, suddenly they are sick with AIDS...after what seems like days or a few short weeks. (While AIDS takes months to physically effect the body) Most unfortunate is that this movie is almost Plageuristic (?) of Wictor Grodecki's own earlier work "Body Without Soul." He simply added actors acting out some of the scenes from the documentary... The only truly GOOD part of the movie was played by the father. He showed true emotion, longing, etc. that indicated that 'this is a man who is desperately seeking his son.' He learns what his son has become and goes after the boy. And, one of the few really great scenes in the movie involves him (toward the very end). I suggest you RENT this one and buy "Body Without Soul." It's more honest and true...and you'll appreciate the story and the concept more.
Rating:
Summary: Sad indeed....
Review: The story is not unusual or even original. I have seem a couple of films that deals with prostitution and it's downfall. A recent release is another foreign movie called "Midnight Dancers", one of the many movies filmed in the Philippines that deals with prostitution. American made movies that I can recall is "Johns" and that River Phoenix movie.... Reality is not often the think we want to face expecially when we deal with such harsh topics as child prostitution. That doesn't mean we don't want to deal with it doesn't exist because it does. Remember, prostitution is everywhere. Prague is only one city. I can think of several places/cities that the community tolerates such conducts. What bothers me while watching this movie (or any other movies dealing with such topics) is what could I do, our society do, to assist these kids? I try to rationalize by the fact that everyone has choices in life. It's just bad that some people see things on a short range rather than on a long range. Would I recommend this movie? Absolutely!!!! I was just in Prague and is a regular visitor there. I spoke with my partner (who resides there) about this movie and he did mention that he knew some people involved with the oldest profession. But then again, even here in New York, I do know a few who sell's love by the hour.
Rating: 
Summary: Same Deal Different Country
Review: The story is not unusual or even original. I have seem a couple of films that deals with prostitution and it's downfall. A recent release is another foreign movie called "Midnight Dancers", one of the many movies filmed in the Philippines that deals with prostitution. American made movies that I can recall is "Johns" and that River Phoenix movie.... Reality is not often the think we want to face expecially when we deal with such harsh topics as child prostitution. That doesn't mean we don't want to deal with it doesn't exist because it does. Remember, prostitution is everywhere. Prague is only one city. I can think of several places/cities that the community tolerates such conducts. What bothers me while watching this movie (or any other movies dealing with such topics) is what could I do, our society do, to assist these kids? I try to rationalize by the fact that everyone has choices in life. It's just bad that some people see things on a short range rather than on a long range. Would I recommend this movie? Absolutely!!!! I was just in Prague and is a regular visitor there. I spoke with my partner (who resides there) about this movie and he did mention that he knew some people involved with the oldest profession. But then again, even here in New York, I do know a few who sell's love by the hour.
Rating:
Summary: Homophobic trash
Review: This movie is just another in a long series which try to portray the old legend that homosexual desires come from Satan. It is really nothing more than that, although it pretends to be more. The big tipoff is that there are no sympathetic gay characters. Of course, there was a time when sympathetic gay characters were basically illegal. Check out virtually all flicks made before -- oh, perhaps 1990. You will find gay men in those films, but they are always villains. James Bond used the cliche, and so did "Dune." It's a tired old bicycle and it is high time to stop riding it.
Rating: 
Summary: Mandragora - a MUST see DVD!
Review: This movie left me gasping for air! It's a movie that forces you to see life from a young male hustlers point of view. There were times during the movie where I just wanted to reach into my screen and protect Mark and David from the perversions surrounding them. The tragic part of all this is, the movie is not based on fantasy, but rather on reality that young male hustlers face everyday in the real world.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT FILM WITH A TRULY AWFUL DVD TREATMENT!
Review: What "Pusher" did for the drug trade, "Mandragora" does for teenage male prostitution. It's an incredibly brutal and honest look at the life of a Czechoslovakian boy who runs away to Prague in order to escape an unhappy home life in a small town. Little does he know he had it very good at home. The film is incredibly graphic on all counts, but needs to be to make its point. This is not a film for children or the squeamish as there is full-frontal nudity, depictions of graphic sex, extreme violence, sadism, drug use, self-mutilation and suicide. It's an excellent film, but definitely not a happy film. In and of itself, this film rates 5 stars. Now let's discuss the DVD itself. It's terrible. The studio that released this film, Water Bearer, apparently did so without love or care for this film, just the possibility of making some fast money. The print used for this transfer skips in several places (this is really unacceptable as the film is only four years old as of this writing), and could use some cleaning up and remastering (too many scratches and artifacts). Some darker scenes suffer from some very visible digital transfer problems. The sound is poor through some passages, resulting in background bass "thumps" whenever the characters speak. The English subtitles are riddled with blatant spelling errors, typographical errors and very poor grammar, most likely translated by someone for whom English is not a first language. A few scenes in English are subtitled in Czech, for some unknown reason. And, although this doesn't bear on the film directly, there are no extras. You either view the film in its entirety, select one of seven incredibly long chapter stops which will have you hitting the fast-forward button in frustration, and that's it! No interviews, no commentaries, no trailers, no talent files, nothing. So buy this DVD for the story alone and you won't be disappointed. Expect more and you'll be sorry.
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