Powder and Gas

The Liberated's attitude toward reality has something repulsive about it, whether they are examining things directly or merely probing them with words, with names that designate things. Werich's movements are already repulsive when he tries to unfold a deck chair in Pudr a benzín (Powder and Gasoline); not only does he constantly get tangled up in it, but he also climbs between its slats with characteristic reluctance – or at least "boredom" – as if he found not only the deck chair ridiculous in advance, but also the comical performance it was supposed to serve. All the more so, of course, they play out their embarrassment in front of the world in a dialogue with Voskovec, where they can – at least partially – step out of the action into its critical commentary. An ordinary rope becomes a completely metaphysical problem for them here (...). The dialogue grows out of the slightest pretext as an irrefutable demonstration of a monstrous and permanent misunderstanding, a fateful divide that separates not only the two partners, but also – and above all – Voskovec and Werich from the world. Did they not characterize their stage characters themselves with their warlike zeal in the fight against tangible reality?

- Petr Král